Steven Egbert
by MaggieJMcGonagall
Summary: Set in the 1930s, a timid muggle-born becomes the first wizard in his family. As he boards the Hogwarts Express, he meets new friends who tell him all about the amazing Slytherin house. Steven's heart instantly becomes set on being sorted into Slytherin. Will his hopes be realized, or will his fate take a completely unexpected turn?
1. chapter 1

Chapter 1

Oh you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!

The Sorting Hat, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

September 1, 1937

Steven Egbert looked down at his train ticket for Platform 9 , confused. There was no sign of the platform he was supposed to be on, just the signs for platforms 9 and 10. He saw other kids pushing trolleys with owls on top of their suitcases, but most of them looked like they knew what they were doing. Steven's mum and dad had never been to Hogwarts, or even London for that matter. They were as clueless about all of this as he was. It had been a struggle to figure out how to find Diagon Alley to get all of his school supplies. There had been a map in his acceptance letter, but his mum hadn't been able to see the Leaky Cauldron sign, and they had passed it three or four times before Steven finally spotted it. He had figured that Platform 9 would be pretty similar.

There seemed to be a lot of teenagers hanging around the pillar between platforms 9 and 10 with their respective parents, so Steven tugged on his mum's hand and pointed. She didn't seem to notice anything unusual, but she and Steven's dad had started getting used to Steven noticing or being able to see things that they couldn't.

Steven lead them up to the platform, but his parents still couldn't seem to see the crowd around it. Steven's eyes widened as he watched one by one as other teenagers and their parents just walk into the pillar between platforms 9 and 10 and vanish. Some of the parents seemed to know what they were doing, but others just looked around aimlessly, looking bored and slightly confused.

"Hey. Hey you. You with the face."

Steven looked over his shoulder and saw a slightly older boy with dark skin and darker eyes.

"Your parents Muggles?" Steven looked up at his parents, then back at the boy, confused. The boy rolled his eyes. "They totally are. You're from the real world, right?" Steven smiled and nodded in understanding.

The other boy held out his hand. "I'm Casey. My parents are normal too." Steven took Casey's hand. "You got a name?" Casey asked.

"Uh… Yeah, I'm Steven." Steven smiled.

Casey grinned back. "Yeah, it's weird for non-magic parents to get on the platform. What my parents do is just close their eyes while I pull 'em through. They can't go through if they're lookin' at it, see?" Casey pushed his trolley forward, holding his dad's hand. "My turn. See ya Steven!"

Casey disappeared through the pillar with his dad. Steven turned to his mum to relay Casey's helpful hint, and then took her hand as he walked towards the pillar.

Everyone watched him as he pulled his mum and his mum pulled his dad towards the barrier. He must look pretty stupid right now, pulling two grown-ups toward a stone wall. His face turned more and more red the closer they got. The more nervous Steven got, the faster he walked, until he was making a full out sprint for the barrier, dragging his parents behind him. And then, he was through. He opened his eyes and saw the scarlet steam engine, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had done it. He was a wizard.

The steam engine pulled away from the station, and Steven pulled his trunk around looking for a compartment to sit in. He thought he might find Casey somewhere, but when he did, Casey was sitting in a compartment surrounded by people. Steven didn't want to disturb them, so he looked for another empty seat. He peered into the compartment next door, and saw a boy and a girl. They didn't seem so bad. He knocked on the door and slid it open.

"Hello. Mind if I sit here?" Steven could feel his face getting red, and looked down at the ground.

"Of course." The boy gave a crooked smile.

Steven put up his trunk and sat down in the corner closest to the door. He started fiddling with his sweater sleeve.

"What's your name?" the boy asked.

Steven looked up slightly, then back at the floor. "Steven. Steven Egbert."

"Nice. Egbert fits you." Steven looked up at the boy and smiled. "I'm Macnair, and this is Black." Macnair nodded at the girl, who was slouching in her seat. "I'm a first year, but Black is a second year."

Steven breathed a sigh of relief. Macnair was a first year too, so he probably felt as awkward as he did. "Me too. I'll be a first year too."

"Great!" Macnair smiled. "Maybe you'll be in Slytherin with us!"

Steven's face fell. "Wait… You're in Slytherin? How do you already have a house?"

The slouching girl, Black, snorted. "This one's a Mudblood, Macnair. No use talking to him."

Macnair flinched imperceptibly. Steven asked, "What's a Mudblood?"

Black gave a wicked smile. "It's a compliment, Egbert. For people whose backgrounds are more… unconventional."

Steven still felt like he had missed out on some inside joke, but filed the information away. He wanted to practice all this new lingo when he got to Hogwarts.

Macnair turned back to Steven, and gave a forced smile. "I don't officially have a house until the sorting, but both of our families have been in Slytherin for years. Well, Black's has longer than mine, but I have three generations so far, so I'm catching up." His smile became more genuine as he talked about his family.

Steven caught Macnair's infectious smile, and his awkwardness started to slip away. "Wow, that's amazing that they've been going to Hogwarts for so long! Maybe I'll be the first in my line to be in Slytherin too!"

Black rolled her eyes from the corner, but Macnair and Steven both ignored her.

"You'll love Slytherin, it's so amazing! My mum and dad have told me all about it. That's where they met, you know. The castle is amazing, and the Slytherins have the best common room, since lots of successful wizards come out of Slytherin and all. The Head of House right now is someone named Slughorn, I think he teaches potions, but I think he started teaching just a few years ago. Apparently he's very good. Well, he went to Slytherin too, so obviously he'd be amazing. He went to school with my parents for a bit, they said he was very charming."

Steven's eyes grew wider with every word. Slytherin sounded wonderful. Steven hoped that you could pick which house to be in.

The train chugged through the rolling green hills while Macnair filled Steven's head with visions of Slytherin house and what fun they would all have together. The food trolley came by, and Black bought half the cart. She even threw a couple of pumpkin pasties Steven's way. By the time the scarlet steam engine pulled to a stop, Steven was so excited about Slytherin that he was bouncing out of his shoes. They got into the boats, drifted to the castle, walked in the doors and were led into the Great Hall. It was all a blur for Steven, who could only hope there wasn't a test later. And then, in no time at all, he was standing in front of the Sorting Hat.

He shifted his weight nervously from foot to foot, as the Headmaster made some preliminary announcements and the Sorting officially began. As a wizard in starry purple robes read out names, Steven took an opportunity to look around the hall. He gazed at each of the banners representing the four different houses. Slytherin glittered a beautiful green and silver, and suddenly Steven became very nervous. What if he wasn't good enough to be in Slytherin?

"Egbert, Steven!"

Steven faintly heard his name being called, but his feet were stuck to the floor.

"Egbert, Steven!" rang through the hall a second time.

This time, Steven processed it, and started stumbling up to the hat. He looked back over his shoulder at Black, who looked bored, and Macnair, who gave him a thumbs up. Steven knew he was destined for Slytherin, he just knew it. He sat down on the stool as the professor with half moon glasses and twinkling eyes lowered the hat onto his head. The hat slid past his ears and pushed his glasses a little further down his round face. Just as the brim covered his eyes, he heard a whispering in his ear.

"So, you want to be in Slytherin, do you?"

Steven froze. The hat. The hat could talk. Why hadn't anyone told him that?

"Tell me, Steven. Why do you want to be in Slytherin?"

Steven gulped. "Well," he whispered, "I want to be with my friends. Plus, all the amazing wizards start in Slytherin. I… I don't know. Everyone knows that Slytherin is the best house."

The hat paused, considering his answer. "You are very loyal to your friends, Steven, even though you just met them. And I see there is a greatness in you that you cannot yet see yourself. I think the house you would ultimately be the happiest in is…"

"HUFFLEPUFF!" the hat roared to the hall.

Steven's heart sank straight to his toes. He was frozen to his seat, and couldn't even hear the cheering from the Hufflepuff table. He was so glued to the stool that after a few seconds the professor had to pry him off to make room for the next first year on the list. Steven mechanically shuffled to the long table draped in yellow, and ducked his head so no one could see him cry.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The following week, the Hufflepuff first years had their first class with the Slytherins, Potions. Steven was about to open the door, when he heard his name from behind.

"Egbert!"

Steven turned to see Macnair ambling towards him, followed by a pale short boy with black hair. Steven's heart groaned. He had been replaced.

"Egbert, I haven't seen you since the sorting!" said Macnair. "I thought for sure you would be in Slytherin. Yellow looks good on you though." Macnair turned to the boy behind him. "I wanted you to meet Riddle. He's a first year like us."

Riddle reached his hand out to shake Steven's. Steven reluctantly took it and shared a limp handshake. Riddle was a much cooler name than Egbert. Steven looked up at the new boy's face to meet a pair of piercing black eyes. Steven quickly let go and scratched the back of his head.

"Nice to meet you, Riddle. Shall we go in? We could all sit together." said Steven, looking hopefully at Macnair.

"Yeah, alright." Macnair pushed open the door, letting himself, Steven, and Riddle into the room.

The Potions classroom was dark, and was lined with bottles and bottles of fluorescent potions. It was lit by torches, but most of the light in the room almost seemed to emanate from the professor himself. He was a portly man with a shock of bright blond hair, and was dressed in an expensive looking three piece suit. He was writing on a chalkboard, and looked back at the door as the three first years came in.

"Come in, come in, and find a seat anywhere." he boomed. "You'll want to learn your way around the castle quicker if you want to be on time in the future." He smiled and winked at Steven before he turned back to the board. Steven instantly loved this man.

They sat down and the professor introduced himself as Professor Slughorn, the Head of Slytherin house that Steven had heard so much about. He started the lesson, and Steven thought he was a very good teacher, if a bit dramatic. They were going over some of the basics of potion making, since no one had made potions before. As they got further and further into the lesson, Slughorn started asking more and more questions to the class, and not just about potions. Did any of them know so and so, did anyone like crystalized pineapple, what did they think was the best solution to the recent goblin rebellion. Steven felt that they were odd topics for a potions class, and as he glanced around the room, he saw that most of the other students seemed to feel the same. The only exception was Riddle, who was scribbling notes as fast as he could, in between raising his hand to answer questions. Steven looked back at Slughorn, who seemed to have also noticed Riddle and his notetaking. Slughorn sidled between two tables to get to theirs.

"Young man, what's your name?" he asked Riddle.

"Riddle. Tom Riddle, sir."

Slughorn smiled at Riddle. "Tom, would you see me after class?" He slipped a gold embroidered piece of paper into Riddle's notebook, winked at him, and began to address the class on cauldron thickness.

Riddle picked up the paper and turned it over. Steven craned his neck to get a better look at it. It was an invitation. An invitation to a dinner party. Riddle noticed Steven's wandering eyes.

"It says," Riddle whispered, "that I can bring a guest." He pondered for a moment. "I shouldn't take just anyone though."

Steven gulped. Maybe he didn't get into Slytherin, but he had to get into this party.

"I… I would love to go. I mean, if you can bring a guest…"

Riddle looked up at Steven and tilted his head slightly.

"Would you really?" He studied Steven with his jet black eyes for so long that it made Steven start to squirm. "Alright Egbert. I'll let you come. But first, would you do something for me?"

Steven's heart leapt. "Of course, anything."

Riddle gave a small smile. "Excellent. The Hufflepuff common room, it's by the kitchens, isn't it?"

Steven's eyes widened. They'd only been at school a week. How did Riddle know so much about the castle?

"Well… uh… yes, I think so…"

"Good. I need you to sneak in and get some crystallized pineapple for me before next week. Can you do that?"

Steven had no idea where the kitchens were, much less how to get in. But if Riddle had a sweet tooth and wanted pineapple for letting him come, then by golly he would get him pineapple.

"Sure, of course I can do that."

The sound of rustling parchment and books going back into bags filled the room.

"Perfect. See you next week, Egbert."

Five days later, Steven was still wandering the halls looking for the entrance to the kitchens. He had known that Hogwarts was big, but he hadn't realized how big. Not only were there the normal classroom corridors, but there were staircases that led nowhere, paintings that were actually doorways, and doorways that were actually paintings. Steven had spent every spare minute he had looking for some kind of sign that pointed to the kitchens, but try as he might he couldn't find a single map or floorplan of Hogwarts. _They build a giant magical castle and no one thinks of making a map to get around?_ Steven thought. _Someone's gotta fix that._

Steven sighed, and plopped himself down in a deserted hallway. He wasn't far from the common room, but he had been on his feet all day looking for the kitchens. He looked around the hallway, seeing quite a few paintings that made him wish even more that he had found the kitchen. There was a painting of a roast turkey, one of a bowl of fruit, and one of a particularly mouthwatering chocolate cake. Besides feeling hungry though, Steven could also feel a pair of eyes on him. He tried to find any portraits in the hallway; sometimes they would people watch to alleviate some of the boredom of being a painting. But instead of a painting, he locked eyes with a small skinny creature with bat-like ears. Steven jumped slightly, startled. He had never seen anything like this before. The creature also jumped, and started to scamper away.

"Wait!" called Steven. The creature stopped in its tracks, slowly turned, and and looked up at Steven, pointing at itself. "Yes, you." Steven smiled. Its big eyes were kind of cute. "Do you have a name?"

"Yes. Yes, sir. It's Nibbs, sir." the creature squeaked. It wrung its hands nervously, as if it was expecting to be scolded for doing something wrong.

"That's a nice name, Nibbs." Steven said. "I know this sounds like a stupid question, but I'm new here. What are you?"

Nibbs' eyes brightened. "Nibbs is new here as well, sir! Nibbs is a house-elf, and is employed in the kitchens, sir! Nibbs does hopes she didn't do anything improper by speaking to you, young sir…" Nibbs trailed off, wringing her hands and looking back down at the floor.

Steven's feet suddenly felt less sore. The kitchens! "Of course you didn't do anything wrong, Nibbs. So tell me, if you work in the kitchens, are they far from here?"

"Oh no sir! The kitchens be straight through that pear. Come, Nibbs will show you!" Nibbs beckoned to Steven and led him toward the painting of the bowl of fruit. Steven followed close behind, a little confused. Nibbs reached up and started to tickle the painting of the pear, which started wiggling and giggling.

"One has to find just the right spot…" Nibbs mumbled as he ran his fingers up and down the side of the pear. Suddenly, a handle popped out. "Ah! Here it is, sir!" Nibbs pulled the handle, and the picture glided outward to reveal a huge room full of pots, pans and hundreds of small creatures like Nibbs. They all looked up at the door, and suddenly the bustling kitchen was silent.

An older house-elf, with even bigger and droopier ears than Nibbs, scurried up to them.

"Nibbs, what is you doing?" he whispered. "You know we isn't supposed to let the masters see us."

"Oh, don't get him in trouble." Steven interrupted. "I won't tell. I just asked him where the kitchens were."

All the house-elves looked at each other to nod and mumble their agreement.

"Well," piped up a high voice, "what can we get for the young master?"

There were hundreds of squeaks of "Yes, yes!" and "What would the young master like?"

"It's Steven, actually." said Steven. "And I was just hoping to get a box of crystallized pineapple. Do you have anything like that?"

There were several cries of "Oh yes!" and "Of course, Master Steven!" and Steven could only watch in amazement as house elves scurried away to bring him boxes of crystallized pineapple, ice cream, chocolate fudge, pastries, and dozens of other treats that they insisted would go fabulously with the pineapple. Steven had never had so many treats offered to him at once. He tried to be polite to everyone and take one piece of everything, while shoving two boxes of the pineapple under his arm. He asked for as many names as he could, but after the sixteenth or seventeenth name, he couldn't keep track of them all, and just said thank you to everyone.

About forty-five minutes later, after trying so many samples that he could barely move, he did his best to beg everyone's pardon, he had to get back to his common room, but thank you very much for the treats, and clambered back out through the hole behind the painting carrying the pineapple, while hearing scores of squeaky voices wishing him well and hoping he would come back again. Just before he left, Nibbs tugged on the hem of his cloak. Steven turned and knelt down to talk to him.

"Nibbs hopes he didn't do wrong in talking to Master Steven…" Nibbs wrung his hands and looked at the floor.

Steven pulled Nibbs into a hug, even though Nibbs didn't seem to know how to hug and went stiff as a board. "You didn't do anything wrong, Nibbs. Thanks for letting me in." Steven let go and stood up to leave. Then he turned back to Nibbs and smiled. "I'm glad we're friends."


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The dungeon door squeaked open, and Steven poked his head in. He had already been to two or three different classrooms in the dungeons, trying to find which of them housed Slughorn's party. Empty again. Steven sighed and pulled his head back out of the classroom. Someone really needed to make a map of this place. He turned around to see a short boy with black eyes and pale skin standing behind him with his arms crossed.

"I've been trying to find you for over an hour, Egbert." Tom Riddle scowled. "Are you aware that Professor Slughorn's party starts in a mere five minutes?"

Steven gulped. "Yeah, I mean, yes, I was just on my way there, in fact I left half an hour ago so that I would be able to find it, but all I've found so far is empty classrooms and a couple ghosts…" Steven trailed off. It looked like Riddle was not amused. "I… I brought you pineapple though." Steven handed over the two boxes of crystallized pineapple to Riddle's waiting palm.

Riddle inspected the boxes with disdain. "Excellent." he said without emotion. He turned and started to stalk away.

Steven's brow wrinkled and his palms started sweating. "Wait!"

Riddle turned back to Steven, exasperated.

"Can I still… I mean… I can still come, can't I?"

Riddle sighed impatiently and jerked his head towards a hallway that branched off to his left. "It's down this way. Just follow me." He turned back to the corridor and walked, it seemed to Steven, a lot faster than necessary.

Steven jogged to catch up. Riddle didn't glance at or speak to him as Steven fell into step with him.

"So," Steven panted. "Do you like Hogwarts so far?"

Riddle's eyes narrowed, and he said nothing.

"Are you a… what's the word… a Mudblood, like me?"

Riddle's snapped his head up to stare at Steven. "You… keep surprising me Egbert." Riddle said quietly. "Where did you learn that term?"

Steven smiled. Now they were getting somewhere. "I heard it on the train here. I think Black mentioned something about it."

Riddle gave a small smile and nodded. "Yes. Yes that would make sense."

There was a bit of an awkward pause.

"Well… Are you?" Steven asked.

Riddle sneered. "No. No I'm nothing like you." He looked down at his feet, then back up at the corridor. "I'm what I believe is called a Half-Blood. My mother was a witch, the last in a long line of magical lineage. I didn't know anything about her until a few months ago."

"I see." Steven whispered. "So… you lived with your father then? In the non-magical world?"

Riddle's face turned stony. "No."

They both fell silent.

"We're here." Riddle opened a classroom door on the right and stood tall as he walked in.

Steven gulped, and nervously looked into the room. The room was lit with candles and floating glowing orbs. Everyone was sitting around a large round table, and there were two seats left open for Steven and Riddle. It looked like most of the other students there were at least a year or two older than Steven. Slughorn sat at the head of the table and smiled when he saw Riddle.

"My dear Tom! How good of you to come! And right on time I see. Who is your friend?"

Riddle put on a charming smile. "Glad to be here Professor. This is Egbert, my associate."

Steven glowed with a bit of pride. He was an 'associate'!

"I've brought you a gift, sir." Riddle headed up to the middle of the table and handed the boxes of crystallized pineapple ceremoniously to Slughorn.

Slughorn's jaw dropped, and his eyes looked like they would pop out of his head. "But… Well, Tom… This is quite a surprise!"

"It is customary to bring a gift for your host, is it not?"

Many of the students sitting around the table lowered their eyes, suddenly becoming very interested in the state of their fingernails.

"Why… Yes, yes it is Tom. I'm quite flattered!"

Riddle smiled and gave a slight bow before going back to his seat. Steven awkwardly pulled out the empty chair next to him and sat down. So that was what Riddle had wanted the pineapple for. Steven had thought it was an odd request, but hadn't really questioned Riddle's tastes in sweets.

"Well, since Tom was kind enough to bring enough pineapple to feed us all," Slughorn said to the table at large, "why don't we save that for dessert!"

A house elf came scurrying out from the shadows, ready with a silver platter to put the boxes of pineapple on. Steven stared at her, racking his brains. He knew that elf; what was her name? Tipsy? Wispy?

The elf scuttled away before Steven could think of her name, but was back only a moment later bringing out a bowl of salad that was twice her size. As she brought it to the table, she locked eyes with Steven and smiled, obviously a little surprised. She set the bowl down close to Slughorn. Steven suddenly remembered her name.

"Thank you, Nipsy." he smiled as she passed him on her way to get more food. Nipsy smiled, and quietly replied, "Of course, Master Steven." before she disappeared into the shadows.

Steven happily served himself some salad, and then pushed the bowl to his left. He looked up to see Slughorn staring wide eyed at him, and Riddle scowling at him.

"My, my, Tom! You've certainly brought an interesting friend! What did you say your name was, dear boy?" asked Slughorn.

"Steven. Steven Egbert."

"Steven. And how did you come to know… What was that elf's name? Zippy?"

"It's Nipsy, sir. I just met her the other day. We talked a bit about the consistency of different puddings."

"Extraordinary. Tell me, Steven. Is this the only house-elf you've had a conversation with?"

Steven squirmed in his seat. He wasn't used to this much attention. "No, sir. I've talked with a lot of house-elves. They're really nice."

Slughorn leaned back in his seat. "Extraordinary." he repeated. "Do you have any notable wizards in your family?"

"No sir, I'm the first one."

"Hmm. How interesting." Slughorn finally turned back to his salad and started to talk to a few of the other students.

Steven breathed a sigh of relief. He never was good under pressure. He looked at Riddle, who was still regarding him with a careful eye. Steven opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, and turned to his salad.

At the end of dinner, after they had finished off the crystallized pineapple, which really was quite excellent, Slughorn shook everyone's hand as they walked out the door. When Steven approached, Slughorn took Steven's hand into both his large ones and shook it vigorously.

"My dear boy, I do hope to see you at another one of these get togethers soon. I'm just delighted that Tom brought you, I'll have to get you your very own invitation next time, eh?" Slughorn winked at Steven, then let him go.

Riddle was outside, waiting for him.

"It seems you left a good impression. I'm impressed myself." He fell into step behind Steven. "Although, I wouldn't be consorting with house-elves if I were you. It lacks propriety."

Steven's eyebrows narrowed in confusion. "I'm really not trying-"

Riddle stopped in his tracks and glared at Steven. "Look, Egbert. I really couldn't care less about what you're trying or not trying to do. I'm just trying to give some… friendly advice." He turned to walk away, then hesitated for a moment, and turned back to Steven. "For the record though, don't call yourself a Mudblood either. You do yourself an injustice." Then he stalked off the the Slytherin common room, leaving Steven alone.

Steven sat in the library, bent over a piece of parchment. He only looked up when he heard some stern footsteps click up behind him. He turned, worried that the librarian was about to reprimand him for scratching his quill too loudly; he missed using his trusty fountain pen. But instead of the librarian, he turned to see his friend Casey, from the platform.

"Hey kid, long time no see."

Casey pulled out a chair next to Steven and sat down.

"That's not any homework I remember." Casey commented, looking at Steven's parchment. "What're you workin' on?"

Steven smiled excitedly and pushed up his glasses. "It's a map of Hogwarts. I feel like it should be enchanted or something so that it can have all the moving staircases and such, and there's a lot of Hogwarts I haven't seen yet, but I've at least got the floor that the Hufflepuff common room is on. It's so frustrating. None of these floors even have numbers, and there are some floors that you have to go up to the next floor and then back down again to get to a different part of the same floor…" Steven looked up at Casey and then back down at his map, the excitement fading into embarrassment. "Sorry. I just think it's cool."

Casey smiled at Steven. "No, it is really cool. Hogwarts has needed a map forever, I don't know why they just set eleven-year olds loose in a huge castle and expect them to be on time for all their classes on their first day. My first night I couldn't even get back into the common room because I didn't know the answer to some dumb magic riddle."

Steven laughed. "That sounds hard! We just have to knock on a barrel and it lets us in. It's like a secret club."

"It's not so secret if you tell everyone how to get in, Egbert." said a cold voice. Black drifted over to Steven's table, tossing her long dark hair. "Sharing house secrets? That's probably why you couldn't get into Slytherin."

Casey's eyes darkened. "Listening to people's conversations is probably what got you stuck there."

"Ha. A pathetic comeback from someone who's supposed to have 'wit beyond measure'. But then again, there always has to be someone at the the the bottom of the barrel. Might as well be you." Black turned to Steven. "If you're already keeping company with this sort of riff-raff, it's a good thing you got landed with Hufflepuff. No standards whatsoever." She sneered at Steven's map. "And apparently no artistic ability either. Practicing your squares, Egbert? I shudder to think what your circles look like."

Steven felt something boiling in his stomach. He didn't often feel this way, but she had no reason to be mean to them like that.

"Hufflepuff is a great house! And we do have standards! That's why people like you don't get in!" Steven slapped his hands over his mouth. How had he said something so mean?

"Yeah," said Casey, joining in. "what house would take someone named 'Walburga' anyway?"

Black's eyes narrowed and her fists clenched. Her face turned as red as her lips. She looked like she was about to explode. But she didn't. She just stalked off without saying a word.

Casey fist pumped the air. "That was awesome! We really showed her. We're a great team, Steven!" He held a hand up for a high five, but Steven just looked down at the ground.

"Yeah… I guess we are."

Casey's eyebrows went up, concerned. "Hey, you okay Steven?" He paused. "You know you can't let her get to you. She's one of the worst." He put a tentative hand on Steven's shoulder.

"I… I was so mean to her." Steven said quietly. "Did you see how mad she was?" He looked up at Casey with sad round eyes. "Do you think… Do you think she'll still be my friend?"

"Steven. She wasn't your friend in the first place. She's no one's friend. The only people she's nice to are pure-bloods, and they're all related to her."

"She… she has no friends?" That was even worse. "That's so sad…." Steven sniffed and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his robes. "Casey, we need to be her friends. We can't just let her be sad like this all the time."

Casey stared at Steven. "Are. You. Mental? She won't let us be her _friends_. She's only friends with purebloods. Which, even if we were pureblood, she'd still be way out of our league." Casey suddenly stopped, as if he felt he'd said too much. Then he sighed. "Look, Steven. She's a lost cause. There's nothing we can do to help her."

Steven stood up and grabbed his map. "No one is a lost cause. There's some niceness in her somewhere. She shared pumpkin pasties with me on the train. Anyone who shares their snacks can't be all bad."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next couple weeks were some of the busiest of Steven's time at Hogwarts. Although he had originally planned to track Black down after classes to tell her that he was sorry for what he had said, it was increasingly hard to find the time. Mid-terms were coming up, and the classes were not particularly easy. Plus, any free time that Steven had was spent working on his map of Hogwarts in the Hufflepuff common room. As much as he wanted to talk to Black again, he didn't want her making fun of his map. He liked his map.

His only free night for relaxation disappeared when he received a special note from Slughorn inviting him to another dinner party. Slughorn had slyly passed it to him during another potions class with the Slytherins. Riddle noticed the exchange from a table over, and had an odd look of confused admiration on his face before he noticed that Steven was watching him. Riddle hurriedly refocused his attention on his potion.

After class, Steven jogged to catch up with Riddle.

"Hey Riddle, slow down!"

Riddle looked over his shoulder at Steven and slowed his pace slightly. Steven caught up and tried to catch his breath.

"I… just wondered… if you got… an invitation… too." Steven panted.

Riddle held his up and kept walking.

"Cool!" Steven replied. "Do you want to go together again?"

Riddle regarded him with a cold eye. "Why do you think you got invited back, Egbert?"

Steven thought for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I didn't really think about it."

Riddle gave a single laugh, then looked back at the corridor. "No. I suppose you wouldn't."

Steven was quiet again, then asked, "Why do you think I got in?"

"I'm not quite sure. Slughorn was obviously impressed that you knew that house-elf by name, though I can't imagine why. And I think he was also surprised that someone invited you as their guest at all. I believe he may just be… curious." Riddle paused, watching his shoes. "To tell you the truth, Egbert, I'm curious too. It seems that you almost effortlessly get others to trust you. It's a… talent that I am not quite as proficient in." He looked back at Steven. "Maybe we should go together. I'd like to observe your tactics."

The two of them reached the charms classroom and stopped.

"Do you know where the Slytherin common room is?" Riddle asked.

Steven shook his head. "No. But I'm sure I could find it!"

Riddle nodded. "If you meet me there fifteen minutes ahead of time, we could walk to the party together."

Steven smiled. "Okay. That sounds like fun!"

"Excellent." Riddle pulled the door of the charms classroom and walked in. "Don't be late."

The classroom door closed. Steven looked down at his watch. He had better hurry if he was going to make it to transfiguration in time. He pulled out his map, and traced his finger along the route. It was a long way. He looked at some of the blank spots of his map and wondered if he would be able to find a shortcut. If he got lost, he would be late. But even if he ran all the way to class, he would be cutting it very close. He looked up from his map to the corridor ahead. If he took a left and then two rights, there should be a stairway that took him straight to transfiguration. Feeling adventurous, he folded up his map, adjusted his book bag, and set off down the hallway.

Steven thought about what Riddle had said about his 'tactics'. He really hadn't been trying to charm his way into anything, he was just trying to be nice. Maybe that was a bad thing. Maybe he was supposed to have some kind of goal for everything he did.

Steven turned left into a hallway with a very high ceiling. He pulled out his map to make a note of it. He did have some goals though. He was going to class, and making his map better at the same time. That was two goals at once! Steven smiled to himself, then took the next right, keeping his map out to take notes. This corridor had hundreds of tall windows that went from floor to ceiling. Steven wrote this down, then ran to the end of the corridor, where it split into a right and a left hallway. He almost turned left, but then looked right. Was he supposed to turn right or left this time? Steven scratched his head and looked at his map. It looked like he was supposed to turn right, but instead of going up to the third floor, the right hand corridor looked like it turned into a spiral staircase going down, while the left hand hallway went into a spiral staircase going up. Steven thought for a moment, then went left. If the staircase went up, it was sure to get to the third floor.

Steven took the stairs two at a time, expecting to make it to the top in no time. But he didn't. He started slowing down after a minute or two, huffing and puffing. After about five more minutes, he started getting frustrated. Class had already started. He had to be close to the third floor. He couldn't turn back now. He started running up the stairs again.

A couple minutes later he realized they weren't going to end anytime soon. Steven stopped and sighed. He had totally missed class. He really had tried. He turned and dejectedly started walking down the stairs, but then stopped, listening. He had heard something. Then he heard it again. It was the sound of a page turning. He slowly tiptoed up the stairs, peeking around the corner. There, sitting in a windowsill, was a girl wearing green Slytherin robes, reading a book with her back to Steven. She lifted her hand up to her mouth and Steven heard a crunch. Was she eating… toast? He took a step back, not wanting to disturb her, but she turned and saw him just in time.

"Hey." she said. "What're you doing all the way up here?"

"I… um…" Steven stuttered. She had very pretty blue eyes. "I… I was looking for the third floor… Transfiguration?"

The girl laughed. "You're way past the third floor. This stairwell just goes up to a balcony. A lot of work for not a lot of point if you ask me."

"So I should have gone right!" Steven muttered to himself.

"No, going right just takes you to the dungeons. Drops you off right at the Slytherin common room, actually. I think whoever planned this staircase just wanted to build as long and dull a staircase as possible."

"Well, it actually would be really good for sleeping bag surfing." said Steven, looking around.

"What's sleeping bag surfing?"

Steven smiled. "I'll have to show you sometime."

The girl smiled back, and offered Steven a piece of toast. "I'm Sylvia, by the way. Sylvia Travers."

Steven accepted the toast, smiling. "I'm Steven Egbert." He took a bite of the toast. It was quite good. "What are you doing up here?"

"Oh you know. Just reading."

"H.P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu." Steven read. "What's a Cthulhu?"

Sylvia laughed again. "It's awesome is what it is. Are you a Muggleborn?"

"Yes…" Why did every magical person he met ask him that?

"That's so cool. I wish I was Muggleborn, you guys have so many cool stories about the world. We don't have a lot of fiction to read in my house, at least not like this. My Muggleborn friend Lucy showed me this one. I'm only halfway through right now, but I had to finish. I love it!"

Steven smiled. "Don't you have class?"

"Well. Yes. But this is more important right now." She stuck her nose back into her book, paused, and looked back up at Steven. "You can join me if you want. I brought some Edgar Allen Poe." Sylvia pointed at a stack of books next to her. "They were for if I finished Cthulu before class got out, but I can share if you want." She waved her wand, muttered a spell, and the last piece of toast multiplied into four. She turned back to her book.

Steven looked around nervously. He didn't want to get caught, but he could really use a break.

Sylvia interrupted Steven's introspection. "No one's going to find us up here. I've been doing this for a while. I think I'm the only one who even knows this place exists." She glanced at Steven. "Well, I guess now you know about it too."

That toast did look really good. Steven sat down and picked up The Pit and the Pendulum.

"I guess I am really late anyway…"

"That's the spirit!" Sylvia gave him a friendly punch on the arm. "You just can't say no to Poe!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Steven and Sylvia walked back down the stairs, carrying their books under their arms.

"So I've been cataloging whenever I find a new hallway or a new stairwell and putting it on my map for later reference. It's actually made getting around Hogwarts a lot easier. Hey, if you can do that same thing with my map as you did with the toast, I can give you a copy once it's finished."

Sylvia smiled. "No thanks, I actually know my way around pretty well. But I do know some really cool secret passageways you could put on there."

"Really? That would be awesome! Thank you so much!"

"Of course, anything for a friend."

Steven was positively bouncing down the hallway, when he heard a cackling laugh heading their way. Steven froze.

"What is it?" Sylvia asked.

Steven gulped. "It's… um… I think… it's Peeves. He found me in the bathroom a few days ago… and… well…" Steven blushed, and muttered something Sylvia couldn't make out.

"Sorry, didn't catch that."

Steven took a deep breath, then took the plunge. "He… He stuck my belt to my feet, okay? So I… I couldn't pull my pants up." Steven turned red, then looked down at the ground.

Sylvia bristled, grabbed Steven's arm and marched down the hall.

"Wh-where are we going?"

"You are going to stand up to Peeves. And I'm going to be your backup."

Steven's red face turned pale, and he pulled against Sylvia. She had a surprisingly strong grip.

"No. I. Won't." Steven grunted through gritted teeth. "I can't! Peeves is… he's-"

"Scary?" Sylvia snorted. "He's just a bully, like any other bully at this dumb school. He can smell fear. So don't be scared, and he won't bother you."

Sylvia pulled Steven around the corner, until he was face to face with the long nosed, floating poltergeist.

"Ooooh goodie! Silly Salamander has brought me an ickle first year to play with! What's your name, chubbsy?"

"St-st-Steven Egbert. And I'm not a-afraid of you!"

Sylvia put shook her head and put her hand over her face.

"Oh, not afraid little egg-boy? Well then, we could have some fun rolling you down the hall, couldn't we? Come on, Salamander, let's make this firstie into an egg roll." Peeves picked up one end of the carpet and was about to yank it out from under Steven's feet, when Steven started giggling.

Peeves looked up at Steven, confused. Sylvia looked at Steven from between her fingers, trying to figure out what was going on.

"Make me into an egg roll? That's funny!" Steven laughed.

Peeves smirked. "You like that, Stovetop?" This made Steven laugh even harder. "Well there's a lot more where that came from. We could toss you in the air and make you into an egg salad if you like."

Steven was rolling on the floor holding his sides, and Sylvia was starting to snort out a laugh or two as well.

Peeves pointed at Steven, and asked Sylvia, "Where'd you find this spotty chubster, Salamander? He fall off a wall?"

Steven howled with laughter, and Sylvia couldn't hold it in any longer. She burst into a peal of laughter, and fell on the floor with Steven. Peeves tried to comment a few more times, but anytime he said anything, he just restarted the cycle of giggles. Eventually, he gave up, and drifted away to find someone else to bother. After a few minutes, the case of the giggles finally wore off, and Steven and Sylvia were able to stand up, laughing for no reason every couple minutes.

Sylvia wiped away the last tears of laughter. "You see? Just like a boggart. Doesn't know what to do when you start laughing at him."

Steven thought about asking her what a boggart was, but his sides hurt too much from laughing. "Yeah," he wheezed out. "Just like… what you said."

Sylvia grinned, and handed Steven his bookbag. "We better get you to class. Don't want you missing two classes in a row."

They headed down the hall again, still chuckling to themselves.

"So," Steven asked after a few minutes, "it looks like Peeves doesn't bother you. How did you get him to like you?"

Sylvia reached to scratch the back of her neck. "Well, as you can probably tell, I'm not really big on rules. So um… sometimes I… you know… help Peeves out. Not bullying people," she said quickly, "just shaking things up a bit to make Hogwarts more interesting. Like growing raspberry bushes in the halls and things. It gives Peeves something softer than rocks to throw at people."

"Doesn't that make a lot of work for the house elves?"

"House elves? Hogwarts has those?"

"Yeah, they're really nice. I remember them talking about cleaning up raspberry stains though."

Sylvia shifted her books to the other arm. "My family has a couple house elves. I've never actually talked to them though."

Steven laughed. "There's people who live in your house that you've never talked to?"

"Well, they aren't really people, are they? They're house elves, that's different."

Steven hesitated. "Not… really. They have thoughts and feelings, like any other person. They're just smaller with bigger ears."

Sylvia smiled. "Well, I guess." She stopped outside a heavy wooden door. "I think this is your stop. You're going to Herbology, right?"

"Yeah, I should. Are you going to your next class?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't miss Transfiguration again, or they'll kick me out."

Steven smiled. "Okay. Well, I'll see you tomorrow to work on the map?"

"That sounds fun! See you later Steven!"

As Steven worked on casting sunlight spells into terrariums in Herbology, he thought about how he and Sylvia had rolled on the floor laughing at Peeves, and how Riddle had practically asked him to teach him how to be friends with people. Although he wasn't technically in Slytherin himself, finding friends who were in Slytherin was the next best thing. There were good people there. He reached a hand over the terrarium and a vine from one of the plants snapped menacingly at him. Steven smiled at it. It was a sweet plant. It just needed a little sunshine was all.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The night of Slughorn's dinner party, Steven and Sylvia left the reading stairwell a little earlier than usual to walk down to the Slytherin common room. They had been bent over his map all afternoon trying to figure out the best route from the Slytherin common room to the Hufflepuff common room. They had been hanging out a lot lately, and it was just inconvenient to meet in the Great Hall every day. Not only that, but some of the Hufflepuffs and Slytherins were starting to look at them funny for some reason. Steven didn't mind, but it did seem to bother Sylvia a little. They decided that they needed to do a little more exploring to figure it out, since most of what Steven had on his map was different routes to classes.

They made it to the dungeons a few minutes before Steven was supposed to meet up with Riddle.

"I think it might be good to do some wandering after Slughorn's party, if you have time." Sylvia suggested.

"Wandering? As in, wandering around the castle? Are you sure? I mean, it'll be close to curfew by the time it gets out. Do you think we'll have time?"

Sylvia smiled. "Steven. No one enforces that rule. The only people who are out that late are the ghosts, and they don't care if you're up or not. They'd probably be glad for the company."

"I… I… I don't…" Steven didn't like the dark.

The door to the Slytherin common room opened and Riddle sauntered through, adjusting his robes. He looked up and saw Steven and Sylvia and nearly tripped on his own feet.

"Egbert. And… Travers. What a surprise."

Sylvia smiled at Steven and playfully punched his arm. "See ya in a couple hours, Steven!"

She jogged through the door that Riddle had left open, and closed it behind her.

Riddle cleared his throat. "So… Um… You're friends with Sylvia Travers?"

"Yeah, she's really cool. And smart; did you know she's teaching herself calculus?"

Riddle started walking in the direction of Slughorn's office. "No. No I didn't."

"She is! Even on top of all her Hogwarts classes! She said the Arithmetic classes for second years are too simple, so she'd doing calculus just so she won't be bored during class. I don't know how she does it though, she doesn't even study for her other classes, she just helps me all the time. She's so nice."

"Yeah, she is." Riddle ran a pale hand through his hair. "Are you two… doing something… after this event?"

"After the party? I… I think so. She wanted to go explore the castle. I'm working on a map of Hogwarts, and I still have a lot of empty spaces."

Riddle nodded. "You're going… together? Alone?"

"Well, I guess. I don't think it's a good idea to go at night… but we don't have time during the day. Hey, do you want to come with us?"

"Me?" Riddle asked.

"Yeah, you. It's probably safer to have more of us."

Riddle looked at the floor. "Would I be… interrupting anything?"

"Of course not, we'd love to have you!"

Riddle gave a small smile. "Um… Okay. Yes. Yes, that would be fun."

Steven and Riddle came to Slughorn's office door and let themselves in. A few people were already there, and Slughorn boomed out a "Steven m'boy! Have a seat!" and "Delighted to see you, Tom!"

Steven pulled out a chair and was about to sit down, when he looked up. His stomach dropped. Walburga Black was sitting across the table from him. Steven gritted his teeth, pulled out his chair and sat down with a thump. He had been trying to talk to Black for weeks. Now was as good a time as any. He pushed his glasses up his nose, and tried to smile his most friendly smile. Steven wasn't scared. Of course he wasn't. Not one bit.

Black stared him down across the table, a glint in her eye. She smiled a toothy smile and Steven almost could have sworn that her canines were sharpened to a point.

"Well everyone, let's get started." rumbled Slughorn. "You might notice that we have a new face with us today. Walburga, why don't you introduce yourself."

Black stood up, tossing her long dark hair over her shoulder.

"It's just Black, not Walburga. I'm in Slytherin, and my family has been going to Hogwarts for six hundred years. My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were all in Slytherin. Unfortunately, my great-great-grandfather was sorted into Ravenclaw, so he broke the chain."

A couple of the Slytherins made a sad sort of sound.

"Any brothers or sisters, Miss Black?" asked Slughorn.

"No, just me."

Steven cocked his head. He had three younger sisters at home, and he felt like he had learned a lot from growing up with them. Maybe Black had never learned to be nice to other people because she had no siblings.

"And are you enjoying your first year at Hogwarts?"

"Yes sir."

Slughorn smiled and nodded, and Black sat back down. "Well, I hope you will continue to have a marvelous time, Miss Black, and we will do our best to extend our heartfelt friendship to you." He turned to the rest of the table again. "Miss Black, you see, is from one of the oldest wizarding families…"

Steven tuned Slughorn out as a house-elf came up to him with his salad. The poor elf was limping.

"Polly," Steven whispered, "are you alright? Your leg..."

"Oh yes, Master Steven. Polly was too slow with the salad, sir. Miss Black was displeased."

"Do you mean… Did she hit you?" Steven glared at Black who was nonchalantly digging into her salad.

"It was Polly's own fault, sir. She didn't mean anything by it, sir." Polly tottered away, favoring her left leg.

Steven sat back up, his stomach boiling. Everyone was happily chatting away. None of them had even noticed the casual abuse that was happening under their very noses. Steven picked up his fork and stabbed at his salad. He would have to talk to Black about this. It just wasn't right. He glared at Black all through dinner, hardly touching his food, which was a shame, because it looked delicious. Steven just didn't have the appetite for it.

While he was not eating the roast pheasant that was being served, he thought about his mom and how she had taught him how to deal with bullies. In primary school, there had been no shortage of people calling Steven a fat, stupid, ugly, pathetic four-eyes.

At the end of the dinner, Slughorn had a little bit of time for mingling. Steven walked determinedly up to Black, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Walburga, I need to talk to you."

Black whipped around, her long hair slapping Steven in the face. Steven got a mouthful of hair and started sputtering.

"If it isn't the Slytherin wanna-be. My name is Black, fat-face. If you call me that again you'll get a fist to the mouth instead of hair."

Steven pulled a loose piece of hair out of his mouth, and tried to put his angry face back on. Black had already started walking away.

"Why are you so mean to people?" he called out to her.

The room fell silent, and everyone turned to look at them.

Black turned back to him. Steven felt his face turn red as she slowly walked over to him. She leaned in so that only he could hear her.

"Because some people are just more important than others, Egbert."

Steven's hands clenched. Walburga smiled, and turned away from Steven, as if she had finished with him for the night.

"My friends are just as important as anyone else."

Walburga paused. "Your friends?"

Steven steeled his courage. "You kicked Polly in the leg when she was serving you salad. Now she's limping. You could have broken her leg, and she didn't even do anything wrong! She was serving you! You can't treat people like that!" Steven's voice had gotten very loud. He'd never shouted at anyone before. Not that he could remember, anyway.

"Wait, you're talking about that dirty little house elf?" Walburga scoffed. "House elves aren't people, Egbert. Far from it. They don't have feelings. The elf was slow, I was teaching it its place. If you're calling that thing your friend, you must be pretty desperate."

Steven's toes clenched in his shoes. His tongue was thick in his mouth and made it hard to get his next words out.

"I - I think -you're - you're a -"

"I'm a what, Egbert? Spit it out, I haven't got all night."

Steven took a deep breath, then slowly let it out. He unclenched his toes, and said quietly, "I think you're a bully, Walburga. But I think that you are the way you are for a reason. And just because the you don't treat people the way they should be treated, doesn't mean that I should act the same way."

He walked up to her and before she could do anything, he put his arms around her and gave her a hug.

She was shaking.

Steven didn't know if it was because she was about to cry or if she was shaking with rage.

"It's going to be okay." Steven whispered. "If you need anything, just let me know."

Walburga shoved him away. "Get your filthy Mudblood hands off of me!" she yelled. She stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

The room was silent. Steven hadn't realized until now that the whole dinner party had been watching him and Walburga. Slughorn came up behind him and put his arm around his shoulders. They walked slowly towards the door while the room started murmuring again.

"Steven my boy, that took some guts."

Steven scratched the back of his neck. "Well… I don't think -"

"I don't know if it was the wisest choice though." He put his hand on Steven's shoulder. "I think you may need to lie low for a while. Stay safe, son."

He patted Steven's shoulder in an grandfatherly way, and turned to the next student heading to the door.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Steven waited in the hallway for Riddle to come out. His head felt like it was full of static. He was still so angry at Walburga. It wasn't even that she had called him a Mudblood, which he was starting to realize was actually not a nice thing to say to someone. He was mad at himself for getting so angry. He wasn't the type of person to yell.

Riddle came out the door and walked over to Steven.

"Well… That was… surprising."

Steven shrugged and looked at the floor. "Yeah. Sorry."

"What did Professor Slughorn have to say to you?"

Steven shuffled his feet. "He just said to lie low for a while…"

Riddle and Steven started walking slowly back to the Slytherin common room.

"What could he mean by that, do you think?" Riddle asked.

Steven wasn't in the mood to chat. "I'm not sure." he mumbled.

Riddle put his hands behind his back, He was quiet for a while.

"I'm not sure either, Egbert. That was quite a display in there. Slughorn may not want it to happen again."

Steven nodded. It had taken some major willpower to calm the angry beast long enough to give Black a hug. He didn't even know what he would have done if he hadn't controlled himself. Would he have screamed? Thrown things? Punched her in the face?

"I tried really hard to not get angry…"

"I thought you behaved admirably, Egbert. Even though I may not have understood all the reasoning behind it. You really care for that house elf, and I can respect that."

Steven's clenched stomach relaxed a little bit.

Riddle chuckled. "Besides, it's not your anger Slughorn is afraid of, I think. The Black family is a powerful one; having their daughter deign to come to his dinner parties is a mark of prestige that Professor Slughorn won't find many other places."

Steven kicked at an old quill on the ground. "That doesn't give her the right to treat people like that though."

Riddle shrugged. "According to whom? I'm still divining how the power structure works in the wizarding world, but from what I gather, she actually does have the right to act however she likes."

They both fell silent. They had reached the common room.

"So…" Riddle looked at the door, then back at the ground. "Were you… um… still planning on…"

Steven slapped his forehead. "Oh right! We were planning on exploring the castle tonight. Listen, I don't really-"

At that moment, Sylvia opened the door of the common room and walked out. Riddle almost comically snapped to attention, running his hand over his already smooth hair.

"Hey Steven, ready for our escapade?" Sylvia grinned.

"I guess so. I'm a little nervous though." Steven looked over at Riddle, who was almost bouncing on his toes. "Sylvia, have you met - "

"Riddle. Tom Riddle." Riddle, usually so cool and collected, thrust out his hand almost whacking Sylvia in the nose. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Miss Travers."

Sylvia smiled and pulled Riddle's hand down away from her face. "Pleased to meet you as well, Tom. And call me Sylvia, we go by first names here."

A little bit of red crept up Tom's neck, and he pulled at his collar.

"Tom was wondering if he could join us on our map adventure."

"But of course! Have you seen Steven's map, Tom? It's really quite amazing so far, he's quite the architectural artist. I've been working on finding a spell to mirror the moving staircases onto it, but I haven't come up with anything yet." Sylvia reached into Steven's bookbag and pulled out the map. "We need to put an anti-aging spell on it as well, the corners are getting a little crinkled." She unfolded it and held it out for Tom to see. He looked from Sylvia to the map.

"That's -"

"Awesome, right?" Sylvia flipped a few pages over. "We do still need to organize where to put each floor though. It's kind of confusing at the moment."

"Yeah, I need to get on that." Steven interjected. He took a page from Sylvia and flipped it sideways. "If we are going to go exploring tonight, we just need to figure out a route around the kitchens." He pointed at a large room on the map. "It looks like that's the biggest obstacle between here and my common room."

"I - I've read about some hidden passageways throughout the school. Perhaps one leads to the other side of the school?" asked Tom.

"That's an idea, Tom!" said Sylvia. Tom beamed. Steven had never seen him smile so wide.

"Or," Steven suggested, "we could also just look down some of the normal hallways too. Then we won't run into… anything."

"Steven, you're not scared of ghosts, are you?" Sylvia good-naturedly elbowed him in the ribs.

"I don't think so… All the ghosts I've met so far are pretty nice…" He didn't say that there was always the chance that there might be some ghosts in the danker parts of the castle that were less cheerful.

Tom squinted at the map. "Oh, I know this hallway. I have a class there." He pointed at a blank spot on the map near where they were.

"Perfect! Let's try there and we can map along the way." Sylvia folded the map up and gave it back to Steven. "Onward!"

Steven, Tom, and Sylvia made their way through the dungeon halls. Tom was a little quiet at first, but Sylvia was good at making new friends, and soon Tom was right in the thick of things. Steven watched the two of them, smiling. The dinner party had been a bit dreadful, but it was nice to have friends to pick you back up. He wondered if Tom had even noticed that he had made a friend all on his own.

Tom suddenly stopped, tilting his head to one side.

"What is it Tom?" asked Sylvia.

"I… I don't know. Do you hear that?"

Steven strained his ears, trying to hear what Tom heard. He couldn't hear anything. The hairs on the back of his neck raised up.

"I bet it's just the water running through the pipes." said Sylvia. "It gets pretty loud down here at night."

"Pipes…" muttered Tom.

Sylvia looked over at Steven, who was shaking in his shoes. "Come on, Tom. We're freaking Steven out. Come along, dear."

Sylvia pulled on Steven's arm and he stumbled forward. Tom, however, just stood staring at the wall.

"Tom?" Sylvia was starting to look worried. "Tom, come on, we've got to find the way to the Hufflepuffs sometime tonight."

Tom squinted at the wall. "I can't… quite… " He shook his head. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said, we have to get Steven back to his common room before he faints or something."

Tom turned to look at Sylvia trying to pull Steven along. Steven's hands were shaking, and he was having a hard time getting his feet to move. Tom blinked a few times, and then walked over to the two of them.

"I'm sorry… I don't know what came over me." Tom gave a forced smile. "It was nothing, Egbert, just water. I apologize if I made you anxious."

Steven took a few deep breaths to steady himself. "It's… okay…"

"You know, it's okay if you want to go back the long way, Steven. We can adventure another time." said Sylvia.

Steven took one last deep breath and steeled his nerves. "No. I can do it. Let's just find the way there and get out of here."

Determined, Steven walked forward and lead the other two down the hallway. He didn't want to make a scene in front of his friends, but the way Tom had looked at the wall had unnerved him. Maybe it had just been water in the pipes, but Steven hadn't even heard a whisper of pipe noises.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, Sylvia spoke up.

"Steven, could I borrow the map for a second?"

Steven handed over the map, and Sylvia lit her wand to see more clearly. The dim hallway had been getting colder, and the smell of damp was getting more and more prevalent.

"Pencil?" Sylvia asked.

Steven had introduced her to pencils a few weeks earlier, and now she hardly ever used a quill if she could help it. Steven dug in his bookbag for a pencil while Tom shivered.

"I don't believe many students have reason to come this way." Tom said.

Steven found the pencil, and handed it to Sylvia. "No, do don't think they would. Didn't you say you had a class down here though?"

Tom paused. "Yes."

He didn't elaborate, and for a minute the only sound was the sound of Sylvia's pencil scratching on the map. Steven squinted into the darkness.

"I think I see a hallway to the left over there. Maybe that will go around the back of the kitchens?" said Steven.

Tom looked in the direction Steven was pointing.

"It's too dark to see anything. _Lumos!_ " Tom cast a beam of light down the hall.

There was indeed a hallway to the left. As they made their way closer though, Steven noticed that there was something carved into the wall. He went up to the corner and ran his fingers over the stone.

"What is that?" asked Sylvia.

Tom stood on tiptoe to peer over Steven's shoulder. "It looks like… an S."

The ornately carved S was a stark contrast to the rough hewn stone that lined the rest of the hallway. Tom pointed his lit wand down the S corridor, and the damp walls almost seemed to absorb the light. There were no hallways branching off the main corridor, and they couldn't see where the hallway ended.

Steven's stomach clenched.

"I… I don't think we should go this way…" Steven looked at Sylvia apprehensively.

Sylvia looked at Tom, who looked like he was being drawn into the hallway by some invisible force.

"Tom." Sylvia touched Tom's arm, and he nearly jumped out of his skin. "We can go this way another time."

Tom's glazed over eyes brightened a little, and he shook himself. "Yes. Yes, I think… That would be nice."

Sylvia smiled, and they again set off down the hallway their original hallway.

The rest of the night was rather uneventful. Steven cheered up again when some paintings started to reappear on the walls, and they tried to stifle their laughter at a portrait of a sleeping bard who was drooling profusely onto his mandolin. They did find some stairs leading up to a trap door in the Great Hall disguised as a particularly large flagstone, but by that time, Steven was yawning and dragging his feet, so Sylvia made an executive decision that it was time for him to turn in. They all shuffled the rest of the already known route to the Hufflepuff common room, said their goodbyes, and as Steven crawled into bed, his last thought before he fell asleep was the hope that Tom and Sylvia wouldn't go down that dark hallway in the dungeons tonight.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning at breakfast, Steven looked over at the Slytherin table to see Tom and Sylvia sitting together. He was glad they were friends now. Sylvia caught his eye and waved him over to the Slytherin table. Steven smiled and stood up to sit with next to her. A couple of the other Slytherins nearby shifted uncomfortably and turned up their noses, but that was normal.

"Hey Steven!" Sylvia said cheerfully. "How did you sleep?"

"Well." Steven smiled. "We covered a lot of ground last night. Did you and Tom get back to your common room okay?"

Sylvia nodded. "We did take a detour, though. I can even add it to the map if you want."

Steven pulled out his map, handed it to Sylvia, and started digging into his scrambled eggs.

"Great! Where did you go?"

"We explored that S hallway from earlier."

Steven almost choked on his eggs. He looked up at Sylvia and noticed that Tom next to her was quietly picking at his toast.

"You did? But… But it was so…"

"It was definitely menacing, that's for sure. But we were just so curious, we had to see what was down there."

Tom kept his eyes down, still not saying anything.

Steven gripped his goblet of orange juice and felt a shiver go down his spine.

"So… um… What did you find?"

"We found nothing." Tom blurted. "It was just an old dusty hallway."

Sylvia sighed. "Yeah, it wasn't anything too special. There weren't any rooms off of it or anything. But what was really cool was that the farther we went down the hallway, the more carvings were on the walls. The stone actually started looking more like smoothed marble instead of an old gross cave. We actually didn't even make it to the end, it just kept going. So you never know," she shrugged, "there may be something more down there."

Steven gave a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good news. I was worried you guys would run into a cursed mummy or something."

Sylvia laughed. "Maybe if we had gone down far enough. The corridor was kind of spiralling down, so maybe it went down to a secret sarcophagus or something. We had to head back though, it was getting late and Tom said he had an early class this morning."

Tom nodded, and Steven went back to his eggs. "I'm glad you two were safe, anyhow. I don't know if I would want to go down there even during the day."

"You don't need to," Tom said quickly. "It seemed like it didn't lead anywhere. Besides, I'm sure there are thousands of other passages in the castle that are much more important to record on your map."

Steven nodded slowly, then turned back to his eggs. Tom was usually a lot quieter than this.

"Well, I would like to go back sometime." piped up Sylvia, biting into a piece of toast. "It looked really cool. And it's probably not nearly as creepy during the day."

"There were no windows." replied Steven. "It would still be really dark."

"Yeah, but still." Sylvia had another bit of toast. "Maybe I could get one of the ghosts to go with me if you two are too chicken. The Bloody Baron seems like he'd be up for it."

Tom snorted, and Steven smiled.

"Bringing him would make it ten times creepier." laughed Steven.

"Of course! That's the point!" said Sylvia. "He would scare away anything potentially life threatening on the way down."

The three of them laughed. Steven glanced over at Tom. He seemed back to normal again. Steven made a mental note to talk to him alone later. He wanted to make sure Tom was feeling alright after last night. It had been a busy evening.

Steven looked down the Slytherin table, and happened to see Walburga Black slam her schoolbooks down onto a seat a few yards down. It looked like she hadn't noticed him. She didn't look at anyone else as she grabbed a plate and started scooping eggs onto it.

After all the excitement of the scary hallway, Steven had almost forgotten about the scene at Slughorn's party last night. It all came rushing back to him, and he glanced over at Slughorn at the staff table. Slughorn seemed unphased, but as soon as Steven caught his eye, he looked away and tucked into his breakfast with renewed vigor.

Steven looked back down at his eggs, suddenly not hungry anymore.

"Hey, Tom? Do you think I'll be invited back to the Slug Club? You know, with what happened last night?"

Tom paused, orange juice halfway to his mouth. "I haven't a clue, Egbert. I suppose you'll just need to wait and see how it plays out.

"Wait," said Sylvia, "did something happen at the party last night?"

Steven and Tom were both quiet for a moment.

"Steven and Walberga Black had a… well, I'm actually not sure what to call it." said Tom.

Steven took a deep breath. "Walburga was being abusive to one of my good friends. Polly was serving her salad and got kicked for her trouble. Polly's fragile, Walberga could have really hurt her."

"Wait, wait, wait. Who's Polly again?" asked Sylvia.

"Polly is a house elf." said Tom.

"Oh, right. I forgot you have a thing about house elves."

Steven bristled. "A _thing_? What does that mean?"

"I just meant you're overly sensitive about how houselves are treated." Sylvia saw Steven's hand clench. "I mean," she said quickly, "not that that's a bad thing, it's just different. Different can be good. It think it's sweet that you're friends with the kitchen elves."

Steven unclenched his fist, and tried to relax a little.

Tom cleared his throat. "After dinner, Steven tried to confront Miss Black about it, but then when she started calling him names, he gave her a hug! Well, she was not happy about that at all. So she pushed him off her, called him the M-word, then stomped out. It made quite a scene."

Steven stared down at his hands folded in his lap.

"Steven stood up to that bully? She's the meanest girl in my year! Well done, Steven!" Sylvia slapped Steven on the back. "First Peeves, then Wally? You are on fire!"

"There may still be repercussions." Tom interrupted. "Slughorn did not seem too happy. Miss Black may be more of an asset to Slughorn's club than Steven is, and he may not want them in the same room if he can help it."

"Psh, so you're out of the Slug Club, big deal. That club's only for prudes anyway. No offense, Tom."

Steven sniffed. "I worked so hard to be there though." he said quietly. "If I'm not supposed to be there, then where am I supposed to be?"

"You're in Hufflepuff, Steven." said Sylvia. "You're a kind, loyal, Hufflepuff."

Steven snorted. "Like being in Hufflepuff is so great. You two are my best friends, and you're in Slytherin. Slytherin are for people who are ambitious, who will go on to accomplish great things. You know who Hufflepuffs go on to be?" Steven paused. "Nobody."

Tom puffed up a little, showing pride in either being called a best friend, or in the reminder that Slytherins go on to achieve great things. Sylvia touched Steven's arm, concerned.

"Steven. You are not nobody. You've done more good for the people around you in your first few weeks at Hogwarts than I have in my two years here. You are someone very important."

Steven looked down at his watch. "I have to go to class." He stood up to leave.

"Steven?" Sylvia called out.

Steven turned around, feeling like a balloon of tears was expanding behind his eyes.

"You're awesome."

Steven turned back to the door and stomped out, trying to hide his tears from the rest of the hall. He was already a stupid mudblood Hufflepuff; he didn't want to be a crybaby too. He had gotten up a flight and a half of stairs before he checked his bag for his map. It wasn't there. He had given it to Sylvia to write the S hallway down. Steven groaned, and turned around to go back to the great hall.

At the bottom of the stairs, a professor with a long white beard and half moon glasses held out a piece of parchment.

"I believe you forgot this?"

Steven took the folded parchment and slipped it in his book bag. "Yes, thank you, Professor Dumbledore. I was just about to go back and get it."

"Ah, yes. I felt that you may need a walking companion."

"Oh really, sir, there's no need -"

"You have Transfiguration, yes?"

Steven paused. Professor Dumbledore was Head of Transfiguration.

"Yes, I do."

"Well then," the professor grinned, "it would seem that you and I are heading the same direction anyway."

He started slowly walking up the stairs. Steven hesitated, then followed.

"How are your classes going, Steven?"

Steven didn't have any classes with Professor Dumbledore. How did he know his name?

"Um… Fine, sir. I guess… some of them are hard." Steven was struggling in almost every class, except charms.

"Oh yes? Any in particular you're struggling with?"

"I… Transfiguration? I guess?"

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes, there is a lot of complicated science in turning one thing into something against its nature."

"You use science?" Steven asked, surprised. "I thought magic was the opposite of science."

Dumbledore chuckled. "Of course not. The rules of the natural world have claim on wizards as well as muggles."

Steven scratched his head. Maybe he would write home and ask his mother to send some old science textbooks from home.

"How is potions?" Dumbledore asked. "I trust Professor Slughorn treating you well?"

Steven's mind flashed back to the night before, and he grimaced, nodding.

"I heard you were inducted into his club, is that right?"

Steven nodded again.

"You should be very proud. Professor Slughorn only chooses exceptional wizards and witches to be in that particular group."

Steven shrunk in embarrassment. "I don't think I'll be there much longer, sir. I've offended someone too important."

"Yes, I heard about that little squabble last night."

Steven wanted to sink into the floor.

"Even if you are passed over temporarily, I wouldn't worry about it too much. To be involved in certain social circles is nice, yes, but if you distance yourself from them for moral reasons, perhaps you'd be happier without them."

Steven nodded. "I guess that makes sense. But sir… I have a question. And it's… hard to explain."

Dumbledore nodded and listened.

"What if… what if I want to help someone? What if there are people who need me, even if they don't make me happy? Or… what if someone doesn't have the same morals as you, but you know that they are a good person? I just don't understand how to I could help them while being apart from them."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment. "Hm… These are all very difficult questions, Steven. And they are all part of growing up." They arrived at the door to Steven's classroom. "I can't give you the answers. I wish I could, but you'll need to find them on your own." Dumbledore put a kind hand on Steven's shoulder. "You're a better man than I am. I hope I can grow to be like you one day." With that Professor Dumbledore walked away, leaving Steven just as confused as before, but feeling oddly comforted.


	9. Chapter 9

The rest of the week, Steven spent a lot of time thinking. His conversation with Professor Dumbledore had given him some ideas. For one, he needed to get his grades up. That was important. He would never be able to succeed as a wizard if he was struggling with first year level magic. Steven thought about asking Sylvia to help tutor him, but she didn't study for her own classes, and he wasn't sure if she'd want to help with his. He had to find someone else who would be willing to help him.

He also decided to keep his distance from Walburga for a little while. He didn't want to seem annoying, and anyway, he didn't really feel like being verbally abused. As for Tom and Sylvia, he was still a little creeped out by their adventure after the party. There was something strange going on with Tom that Steven couldn't quite put his finger on. And as much as he wanted to talk to Sylvia about Tom, she could be as unpredictable in her advice as she was in her classes. He did his best to lie low and avoid everyone for a while, but Sylvia finally cornered him during dinner just a week later.

"Steven! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! Are you doing okay? I just didn't know what to do when you ran off to class the other day."

Steven opened his mouth to tell her that really, he was fine, but she interrupted.

"I needed to show you this. My friend Susan just introduced me to these new muggle books - Sherlock Holmes! Well, they aren't brand new, they are just new to me. But I love them, have you heard of them?"

Steven closed his mouth and smiled. "Yes, my parents love those ones. They came out when they were our age, I think."

"Well, your parents are super cool. Because this is awesome. Goodbye homework, I'm going to be reading for the next few hours!"

Steven bit his lip. That reminded him that he needed a tutor. Maybe…

"Sylvia, could I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"I… I'm not doing very well in some of my classes. And I wondered, well, I thought maybe you'd know…"

"Do you want me to tutor you, Egbert?" grinned Sylvia, hands on her hips.

"Um…" Steven mumbled.

"Or you don't want me to tutor you, because I sluff all my classes."

Steven didn't know what to say..

"It's okay, Steven. I know I don't pay enough attention in classes to be a good teacher. But I think I might know someone who does. And if you two don't get along, I do know that there is after class help if you're struggling." Sylvia pulled on the arm of Steven's robes. "Come with me. My friend is probably in the library. That's where he spends most of his time."

Steven let himself be pulled along to the library. When they got there, Sylvia pulled Steven in and out of long aisles of books.

"He likes to get lost in here," Sylvia whispered "so that no one bothers him and his precious homework." She lead Steven to a hidden window seat, where a dark, curly haired boy sat hunched over a quill and parchment, scribbling furiously.

"But that's…" said Steven.

The boy looked up, and smiled at Steven.

"Steven! It's been a while, kid."

"Casey and I have been friends since our first year." Sylvia smiled. "He's my go-to for muggle knowledge, after you and Susan. Do you two already know each other?"

Steven smiled. "Yeah, we met on the platform."

Casey laughed. "Yeah, so did me and Sylvia. She was actually the one who told me how to get onto the platform in the first place. Crazy, eh?"

Steven laughed along with Casey. "Yeah, it is."

"Steven here's been needing a tutor." Sylvia slapped him on the back. "You up for the job, Casey?"

Casey grinned at Steven. "Happy to. What subjects you need help with, buddy?"

"Um. All of them."

Casey laughed again. "We're gonna have to start somewhere. How about… Herbology? How's that comin'?"

"Not good."

Casey stood up and smiled at Sylvia. "Looks like us guys are gonna have to go on a walk. You wanna come?"

Sylvia shook her head. "With Sherlock Holmes calling my name? Sorry boys, you'll have to go on without your lady escort." She plopped down on the window seat Casey had just vacated. "I'll keep your seat warm for you though."

"I hope you didn't have anything to get to after this." said Casey as they walked around the lake.

"No, not at all. I was actually just going to go back to the common room and look over some science books my mom sent me." replied Steven.

Casey smiled. "Are you taking a chemistry class on the side?"

"No, Professor Dumbledore says they use science a lot during Transfiguration. I thought maybe doing a little bit of extra studying would help."

Casey shrugged. "There hasn't been a lot of science-y stuff as far as I've seen. But maybe once you get into the technical theory of it, it makes a little more logical sense."

They were quiet for a few minutes. Steven looked out at the sky, lost in thought. The lake was really was pretty in the evening like this. With the sun sparkling off the water, and the mist rising over the trees.

Casey bent down and wrapped his robe around his hand before pulling up a prickly plant.

"Look, here's an easy one - this one is a stinging nettle. You've probably seen them growing in people's lawns before."

Steven bent down. "Yeah, but aren't they just spiky weeds?"

"Actually, no. Even though they're prickly, you can make them into a lot of things. Non magic families, like ours, even make them into tea or soup. My mum makes a great nettle soup."

Steven chuckled at that. "But do they have any magical things that they do?"

"Sure, you can make these into a pretty effective Boil-Cure potion, or even a Herbicide potion. I had a boil on my left pinky toe I had to fix just the other day. Had to gather about a whole cauldron full of these guys."

Steven nodded. He had a couple boils on his fingers he would like to get rid of. "It sounds like some of the subjects here bleed together then, like Potions and Herbology."

"Oh, definitely those two. There's some classes that just go together, like Charms and Transfiguration, or Potions and Herbology. Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology are pretty linked too."

"So to do well in one, you have to do well in all of them?"

"Not necessarily, but it does help sometimes." Casey pulled out a small glass jar from his book bag and placed the stinging nettle carefully inside. "Here. This way you can start a collection and start to memorize what these plants actually look like. Sometimes it's easier to actually have a physical one instead of just looking at it's picture in a book."

Steven took the jar, and placed it in his bag. "Do you just carry empty jars around everywhere?"

"You never know. Could be useful someday. Like today."

Steven smiled, and they started walking again. He was still wondering about something.

"I was talking to Sylvia earlier. She said there was a tutoring place somewhere? I mean, I love hanging out with you, but I don't want to be… you know… too annoying."

"No worries, man. You do have to know where it is though. And there's a secret way to get in. I'll show you."

Steven was being dragged back through the halls of the castle for the second time that day. It was getting pretty late. He was tired, and was thinking about stopping by the kitchens and getting a cup of cocoa before turning in for the night, but then thought about all the studying he still needed to do. He groaned quietly, and wondered if any of the house elves knew anything about the care of magical creatures.

"You doing okay, kid?" asked Casey.

"Yeah. I'm just tired. It's been a long day."

Casey nodded. "You and me both. It's just down this hallway, I promise."

Steven nodded. They had come up seven flights of stairs, one of them twice, because the staircase took them a floor down instead of a floor up. It was all very confusing. Steven had been writing down the directions on his map, but soon he was going to have to look over everything and rewrite it. A lot of the map was just notes and scribbles at this point, and if Steven wanted a coherent map, and he wanted to have a separate page for each floor without feeling like he was carrying around a giant book of parchment. It was going to be a lot of work.

Casey stopped in front of a blank wall.

"Here we are!"

Steven looked around. It was just a normal empty corridor, except for a very silly tapestry of someone trying to demonstrate some sort of dance to three massive trolls.

"Looks… pretty empty."

"Well yeah, you gotta do some magic to make it show up. This is a magic castle, after all."

Casey started pacing in front of the blank wall.

"You just gotta walk past here three times, while thinking 'I need a place to study'." He stopped. "But I don't want to do it for you. Here, you do it."

Casey pulled Steven over to the wall. Steven paced back and forth, and although he thought a time or two about needing to study, he mostly thought about how tired he was and just needed a couch to flop onto. After the third time past the wall, he heard the sound of stones grating together behind him. He whipped around just in time to see a wooden door, rather like a classroom door, materialize in the wall.

"Excellent," said Casey, hand on the door handle. "I wonder if anyone-"

Casey stopped as he looked inside. There was fluffy couch in front of a fireplace, with a cup of hot chocolate sitting on a side table. But no one studying.

Steven peeked into the room and grinned.

"Awesome!"

He ran into the room, and flopped onto the couch. He stretched out, put his feet up, and took the hot chocolate. He sipped it, and it was perfect.

"This is a great room! And you said that this was the studying room?"

Casey looked around. "This isn't right. You must have thought about something different when you walked by. What did you think about."

Steven sipped his hot chocolate. "Um. I was tired. And so. I was thinking about a couch. Is that… not right?"

Casey rolled his eyes, smiling. "Not if you want study help. When you've finished drinking that, we'll try again."

Steven stood up, and took his hot chocolate with him out of the room. As he closed the door behind him, it disappeared back into the wall.

"I like this room. Does it grant any wish?" asked Steven.

"Well, it doesn't give you _anything_. But if you need something, usually the room can help out. Here, I'll do it this time, then you can try again."

Steven sipped his chocolate, and watched Casey pace. After the third time past the wall, the door materialized again. Casey pushed it open and walked inside. Steven stepped in after him. It was bigger this time, and was bright, well lit room with several windows in the ceiling that looked like skylights, but there was sunlight streaming in, even though it was dark outside. The walls were lined with books for studying, and had drawers with labels like "New Quills," "Spare Parchment," and "Extra Ink." There were tables for group studying, individual studying, blackboards for drawing out diagrams, and calm music drifting out from somewhere. There were about ten students in the room, and about half of them were just wandering around, helping the others with anything they needed. Near the ceiling, there was a sentence carved:

"Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it. - Helga Hufflepuff"

"Hey!" said Steven, pointing. "That's from my house!"

"Yeah," smiled Casey. "Helga Hufflepuff was one of the best teachers of them all."

Steven grinned, but the his grin turned into a confused expression. "But why is this room so hidden? Shouldn't everyone know about it?"

Casey shrugged. "It's not really a secret. Everyone that comes here just follows one rule." He pointed at the quote on the wall. "Anyone who wants help just needs to ask for it. If people don't ask for help…" He shrugged again. "Being willing to ask for help is the first step. If you can do that, then you're willing to learn." Casey smiled at Steven. "Did you want any more help tonight? Or did you want to go back to your common room?"

Steven pulled his bookbag higher on his shoulder. "I guess… maybe I can do a little bit. I have potions tomorrow, is there any way I could practice a potion before class?"

Casey grinned. "There's a whole cupboard full of cauldrons just over here."


	10. Chapter 10

The next day, Steven had Potions class with Slughorn and the Slytherins. He still hadn't talked to Tom since the night they went exploring, and he was a bit nervous to see him again. It was way too easy to fall out of contact with people. He was also planning on apologizing to Slughorn about the dinner party. Steven still had the slim hope that if he apologized, he would be able to come back into the club.

When Steven walked into the Potions classroom, he didn't see Tom anywhere, so he put his bookbag in his usual spot. There were only four students there, he had come a little early. Professor Slughorn was writing instructions on the blackboard in the front of the classroom. Steven nervously walked up to the front of the class and waited for him to turn around. When Slughorn finally noticed him, he smiled.

"Steven, m'boy! How are things?" He went back to writing.

"I… I wanted to apologize, sir. For the dinner party."

Slughorn stopped writing mid-sentence.

"I was out of line." Steven had practiced these lines during lunch in front of a mirror in the boys bathroom before class. "I shouldn't have yelled and ruined your evening. I hope you can forgive me."

Slughorn turned to Steven and spoke slowly and quietly, looking around the classroom.

"I don't blame you one bit, son. I know Miss Black's reputation. And you've got a good heart. Which is why this is extremely difficult."

Slughorn gulped.

"I'm afraid I can't invite you back, Steven. There are just too many complications. But I do think you're a brilliant boy, and will do great things. The Blacks are just… not the type of family I can cross. You understand."

Steven could feel his face getting red. He nodded, even though he didn't understand. Not completely. He had known he was out of the club. Why had he even tried to apologize?

"Good lad." Slughorn patted his arm and smiled. "You'd better take a seat. It looks like Mr. Riddle is waiting for you."

Steven turned and saw Tom sitting next to his book bag, setting up his cauldron. He walked slowly back to his seat and sat down. Slughorn started the lesson, and Tom gave him a concerned look. He tore a scrap of parchment out of his bag, and scribbled something on it. Tom passed it over to Steven.

 _Dinner Party?_

Steven nodded, and scribbled back.

 _I'm out of the club._

Tom nodded. He put his quill to the parchment, paused, then wrote:

 _Sorry._

Steven shrugged.

 _It's ok. I kind of figured._

Tom glanced at the paper, nodded, then turned his attention back to the lesson. Steven scribbled a little more.

 _But I'm sure you'll have fun._

Tom's eyes flicked down to the parchment, but otherwise didn't acknowledge it. Steven looked back up at the board, still dejected. He wanted to pay attention, but it was hard to focus when he was thinking about so many other things. Luckily, last night he had tried making this particular potion a few times with Casey. It had taken four or five tries, but in the end he had finally made the perfect Boil-Cure potion with the nettles they had collected earlier. Casey had clapped his hands and cheered when Steven had dripped the potion on the boils on his fingers and they had faded away within seconds. Steven had felt so proud of himself. He was confident that today he would be able to replicate it again without a problem.

Academics aside though, Steven was very upset that he wasn't in the Slug Club anymore. For one, that meant spending less time with Tom, who he had really just started getting to know. He had noticed that Tom didn't really spend time with a lot of other people, and Steven wanted him to feel like he had a friend that he could talk to. He'd also noticed that Tom had a little bit of a thing for Sylvia, and Steven really wanted them to spend more time together too. It would be fun to watch how Tom and Sylvia's friendship played out. But even more than that, he liked spending time with Tom, and he didn't know if Tom would even want to hang out with him anymore, now that Steven wasn't important enough to be a part of the Slug Club.

Another effect of not being in Slughorn's club was leading Steven think about what he could and could not do. It may not have been much, but being in the Slug Club had really made Steven feel like he could someday be more than a pudgy Hufflepuff with glasses. He could see that the rest of the school saw Hufflepuffs as the odd house out. They were not brave, smart, or ambitious, so they were just seen as nothing. Steven loved his house, and knew that everyone else in Hufflepuff was amazing, but he wanted to prove that to all the other houses. He wanted to show that he, and anyone else in Hufflepuff, could do great things; they just often chose to do something else.

Steven blinked and shook himself. Everyone else was getting started on their potions. Steven pulled his ingredients towards him, and started finely chopping nettles. He concentrated on his potion, putting his self-reflections on the back burner. Steven glanced over at Tom, who was re-reading the instructions from his potions book.

"So," Steven said quietly, "how have you and Sylvia been?"

Tom said nothing, and didn't meet Steven's eyes.

"I know I haven't been around much lately. I've been working on a lot of school stuff; I haven't been doing that great."

Again, Tom said nothing, focusing on his potion.

"I'm sorry, Tom."

Tom turned to look at Steven. "Why do you keep apologizing to everyone? You don't owe me anything."

"I… I just hoped we could still be friends, even though I'm not in the Slug Club anymore."

Tom paused, holding his nettles above the cauldron.

"Yes. I… suppose we can."

He dropped the nettles into his potion.

Steven breathed a sigh of relief and started working on his potion. He had hoped this friendship would last.

At dinner that evening, Steven looked around the Great Hall for Tom and Sylvia, but couldn't see them anywhere. He didn't want to sit at the Slytherin table to wait, as there was always the chance he would run into Walberga. He looked around at the Hufflepuff table for somewhere to sit. A girl with short dark hair sat by herself, fiddling with her wand as she read the Daily Prophet.

Steven thought she looked lonely, so he sat himself down right next to her.

"Hello. May I sit here?"

The girl looked him up and down.

"Too late to say no, in'nit?"

Steven smiled. He was pretty sure that was sarcasm.

He nodded over at the paper. "I haven't gotten used to the creepy moving pictures yet."

The girl was quiet.

"Anything good in there?"

She rustled the paper. "Bloke got 'rested for killin' a Muggle family. Kids 'n all."

"Oh."

Steven looked around uncomfortably, then started piling boiled potatoes and corned beef on his plate.

"Anything… more cheerful?"

"Nope. Lotsa deaf an' 'struction. But it's news. What ya expect?"

The girl folded up the paper and started in on her kale.

Steven shrugged. "I don't know. Just thought maybe people would tell about the good things sometimes instead of the bad. Maybe it would help people try to be better."

The girl shrugged, and kept eating.

"I'm Steven, by the way."

The girl glanced up. "Rina."

"It's nice to meet you, Rina."

Rina kept eating.

"You're pretty quiet for a Hufflepuff."

Rina glared at him. "Don't have to be a bleeding busybody to get 'ere, do ya?"

"I… I guess not."

Steven wasn't sure whether she meant getting into Hufflepuff, or getting into Hogwarts. He was a little frightened to ask.

They ate in silence for a few minutes.

"You a firs' year?" asked Rina abruptly.

"Yeah, I am. And you are?" Steven answered around a mouthful of potato.

"Third. Didn't think they'd stick me 'ere though. Lotsa other options, see?"

"You mean here in Hufflepuff?"

"Yeah."

They went back to their food.

"I didn't either." said Steven. "I mean, I thought I would get into a different house. Where did you think you'd go?"

Rina shrugged. "Don' know. Didn't even think I'd be 'ere at all. Mean, me Dad's a wizard, but I 'aven't even met 'im." She took another large bite of kale.

Steven nodded.

"But," Rina continued, "good way for Mum to be shot of me. Nutin but a drain on cereal anyway." She stood up and put her paper and wand away. "Steven, wa'nt it? See ya."

Rina turned and walked away from the table.

Steven took it back. She wasn't quiet for a Hufflepuff.


	11. Chapter 11

Still a little taken aback by Rina's sudden disappearance, Steven craned his neck to scan the Slytherin table. Still no Sylvia or Tom. He picked at the rest of his boiled potato. That had been a strange encounter. He was surprised that she was in Hufflepuff. She didn't seem friendly enough. And Steven couldn't figure out what she had actually meant. Had she just thought she was supposed to be in a different house, like Steven? Or had she meant that she was supposed to have a completely different life? Did she even like it here?

Steven's head was buzzing with possibilities. He would really have to think on this new person. She was different. In the meantime though, where were Sylvia and Tom? He had really hoped to meet them here.

He finished his potatoes, and the empty plate magically cleaned itself. He stood up and headed for the library. He wanted to look for a couple History of Magic books before going to the tutoring center, or the Wishing Room as he had started to call it. He nodded to Mrs. Pince, the librarian as he walked in. She was a stern young woman, and scared students more than a nineteen year old ought to, but she was starting to warm up to him. She gave him a stern sniff and turned back to her books.

Steven wandered through the shelves of old tomes, looking for the History section. As he was passing the Transfiguration section, he happened to glance over to see Sylvia sitting in a window seat, reading a book. He took a sharp left turn and made a beeline to her.

"Sylvia -"

She held up a finger, read for about twenty more seconds, then looked up at Steven.

"Sorry Steven. Mr. Holmes is just so brilliant. How have you been?"

"Good." Steven smiled. "How have you been?"

"Alright. Pesky homework keeps getting in the way. Takes time away from more important things." Sylvia smiled. "How is Casey's tutoring?"

"So good! I feel like I'm learning so much!"

"Excellent. Seen much of Tom lately?"

"Actually, no." Steven's brow furrowed. "Have you not been hanging out together?"

"Not much, he's been busy I guess." Sylvia shrugged.

"Hm…" Steven was concerned. He didn't want Tom to feel like he'd been abandoned. "We all should hang out again soon. Maybe go exploring again?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Sylvia. "Soon! I feel like we haven't worked on the map in ages! Maybe this way we could explore something a little less creepy, like the owlery." She winked. "I've seen a lot of cool passages up that way."

Steven smiled. "I've never been to the owlery before. That sounds fun! Maybe Friday after dinner? If you're not busy?"

Sylvia was already going back to her book, and gave a thumbs up. "Sounds great. It's logged away in the ol' noggin. Gotta get back to…" She drifted off as she got lost in her book again.

Steven grinned, and turned back to his History of Magic quest. He really did miss spending time with Sylvia. She was always so fun to be around.

He wandered back into the far corners of the library. Steven was always amazed at how big this library was. His own public library back home was just one room, but this one seemed to have rooms upon rooms. He could create a map of just the library and it would take up at least three rolls of parchment.

Just as Steven was about to give up, he saw an old archway labeled "History". Success! He went through the archway into one of the dustiest rooms yet. Apparently there were not a lot of students who wanted to study the Goblin Wars in their free time. Steven himself was actually looking for more background information on the Goblin Wars for his History of Magic class; he had failed miserably on the last test they had. Professor Binns had such a slow voice that is was painfully easy to fall asleep in his classes.

Steven was so distracted by his thoughts that he almost ran into someone coming around the corner.

"Oh, Egbert. I didn't see you there."

It was Tom.

"Oh sorry about that Tom, I didn't even think anyone was in here. It was so quiet." Steven glanced at the book Tom had clutched to his chest. " Are you doing some extra studying too?"

Tom glanced down at his book. "Well… Not exactly. More personal research, I suppose."

Steven read the title - _Salazar Slytherin: the Enigmatic Founder of the Noble Slytherin House._

"Looks cool! Maybe we could study together?"

"Um… Perhaps another time." Tom tried to make his was around Steven as quickly as he could. Steven scrambled for a response.

"Oh, actually, I just ran into Sylvia. We were planning on going exploring again on Friday after dinner. We would love it if you came with us."

Tom paused. "Sylvia?... Oh… yes, I suppose that would be alright. Are you… planning on anywhere in particular?"

Steven replied carefully. "Yeah, we were thinking about going to the owlery. There's a lot of little offshoots from what I've heard."

"Yes. I think… that would be fine. Friday, you said?"

Steven nodded.

"Fine. I suppose I'll have to make the time. I have things to do, excuse me."

Tom left with his book, leaving Steven feeling uneasy. Whatever was going on with Tom, Steven knew it couldn't be good. It seemed like it had all started down in the dungeons with the S hallway. Or even a little before that with the sounds that no one could hear.

Steven wandered the shelves, looking for the book on the Goblin Wars. Maybe there really had been something sneaking around that night that he and Sylvia couldn't hear. He shuddered, and held onto the bookshelf to steady himself. He looked over, and there it was: _A Brief History of the Goblin Wars_. It looked like it was about five thousand pages long. He heaved it off the shelf, and started carrying it back to the front desk, needing to stop and rest it on the floor every few meters.

About halfway through the library, he came across Professor Dumbledore, who was gazing out one of the tall windows. Hearing Steven's huffing and puffing, Dumbledore turned and smiled at him.

"Ah, Steven. How has school been going for you?"

"Professor. Wow… today… has been… a busy day… for the library… sir."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled over his half moon glasses. "Has it? Doing lots of studying, I take it?"

"Oh yes, sir."

"And your friends? How are they faring?"

Steven sat down on a convenient chair, still catching his breath. "Well, I'm not sure sir."

"I just saw Mr. Riddle walk by. Were you able to chat with him at all?"

"Yes sir. Well, no sir. Actually… I'm not sure. I tried sir, but it seems like he's been avoiding me lately."

Dumbledore nodded slowly. "I was curious…"

"Curious, sir?"

"Yes, Steven. Mr Riddle is from a… unique background. He was not happy where he was. Not happy at all. I was hoping that once he came to Hogwarts, he may have turned over a new leaf, but now?" Dumbledore shook his head. "I'm not so sure. Speaking of which, I wanted to ask you, Steven. Have your friends been… treating you well?"

"Oh yes, sir. When I have time to see them, anyway."

Dumbledore nodded. "No… incidents? Accidents? Acts of a malicious nature?"

Steven thought about the sounds no one but Tom could hear. But then he thought of how wrong he could be about the whole thing. Maybe it was just late at night and he had been anxious because of the party earlier.

"Nothing I can think of, sir."

Dumbledore smiled. "Well. That is certainly a relief."

Steven's book suddenly started levitating three feet off the ground. Dumbledore was cheerfully holding his wand out.

"That book looks heavy. Mind if I…"

Steven gestured a "but of course" and they headed off to the Madame Pince's desk together.

"And what about your other friends, Steven? Sylvia and Rina?"

"Oh. Well, I only just met Rina at dinner. How did you -"

"You must remember, Steven. Walls have ears here."

Steven looked around at the walls. Could they really hear him talking?

"I suppose, sir."

"Do you enjoy their company?"

"Sylvia's I do. I'm not sure about Rina though. I was just so surprised she's in Hufflepuff.."

"Well, Hufflepuff is more of a conglomerate than the other houses."

"I know sir, but Hufflepuff does still have… well, standards, doesn't it?"

Dumbledore looked at him sternly. "Rina is a very competent witch, Steven."

"Well yes, I'm sure, but-"

"We should not pick and choose our prejudices, Steven. Hogwarts has high standards, and just because a student is from a different background than you are does not mean that they don't meet those standards."

Steven swallowed guiltily. Some people were just _so_ different though.

"However," continued Dumbledore, "choosing our friends is a completely different matter. And from what I can tell, your friends are from rather a rough crowd."

Steven was a little ruffled at that. "I like them, sir."

"Of course you do, Steven! There is nothing wrong with that. I would just advise you to be careful. There are many students at Hogwarts, and they all have different reasons for being here. Some reasons are more… benign than others. Magic is very powerful, and I've always worried about the Slytherin house and its quest of power. Power is a fine thing, when it is used to help others, but it is also easily misused. I often wonder if we should sort children into houses that have such impacts on their character…" Dumbledore blinked away a serious thought, then smiled. "But it is a tradition, and as good a way as any to bring people together I suppose. And I digress. What I mean to say, Steven, is that it may be well-advised to broaden your horizons, and befriend those with kind hearts as well as ambition."

They made it to Madam Pince's desk to check out Steven's book. Her glare imperceptibly softened at seeing the two of them. She wrote the book's title in her huge ledger, and then shoved it back towards them. Professor Dumbledore smiled at Madam Pince, and gave the huge book to Steven.

Steven thanked Dumbledore for helping with the book, and Dumbledore waved away his thanks dismissively. "It was nothing. But I would hope that you would remember my advice. Take care."

Dumbledore stalked away, and left Steven swishing and flicking his wand over the book, trying to get it to levitate. Steven wasn't altogether sure how much he liked Professor Dumbledore. He seemed to not think about anyone else very much, like how Tom and Sylvia would feel if they heard Dumbledore calling them a 'rough crowd'. They were good people, Steven didn't understand why Dumbledore had to make such snap judgements about them. Steven wondered if Dumbledore had been in Gryffindor. He had noticed that Gryffindor and Slytherin had some kind of generations old rivalry. They never sat at tables together, and always turned up their noses at each other in corridors. Steven had even seen them bullying each other between classes, just because they were from another house. If Dumbledore was a Gryffindor, it would make more sense as to why he warned Steven so strongly against Slytherins.

Steven finally got his book floating. He smiled, and starting walking it up the stairs to the seventh floor.


	12. Chapter 12

Steven flipped through _A Brief History of the Goblin Wars,_ rereading the same sentence four times before realising that he hadn't actually absorbed any information from it. He was worried about Tom. Sylvia was pretty self sufficient, but Tom… there was something strange going on there. He wasn't always friendly with Steven, but he was civil most of the time. Steven had never seen Tom act so… dismissive of him. And Tom had never been overtly rude to Steven before.

Steven laid his head on the book. He just couldn't concentrate. What with Tom and that weird Hufflepuff girl and Dumbledore all buzzing around in his head, it was a wonder he could even see straight. He sighed, and heaved his book over to a cubby in the wall with his name on it. It had appeared after his third trip to the Wishing Room, right next to a tank of studious frogs. He slipped _A Brief History of the Goblin Wars_ into the hole, waved goodbye to the frogs, and set off down the seven flights of stairs to the his common room.

As he walked, Steven pulled out his map. It was getting quite extensive. He was excited to look at it on Friday with Sylvia. He wanted to get the moving staircases right, and he couldn't make them float around the page without her help. Steven hoped that she would be able to get the staircases on the parchment to match the movements of the floating stairs in real life, thus helping the map reader know which staircase was leaving when. It was really such a bother to need to get to class on the fifth floor in two minutes, but then having to wait ten minutes for the fourth floor stairs going up to come to you. Sometimes there would even be a staircase going the opposite way of what you needed taking up the space for the correct stairs. Then you had to try and shoo it away or trick it into thinking that the next floor down would be a much more comfortable spot. Having a predictor of where the stairs would be and when would be enormously useful.

There were still so many empty patches on the map, places where a hallway just faded into nothing. He still really wanted to explore some of those corridors, even if it was just to get them down on the map. And Steven had barely even started on the grounds yet. So far he just had a line showing where the Forbidden Forest was, and a blobby circle for the lake. He had heard some of the other students talking about fairy circles and secret passages on the grounds, but there was so much to do inside the castle that it was hard to focus on the outside as well. Plus, it had been getting colder outside, and less pleasant to stroll around outdoors.

As Steven walked past the Great Hall on his way to the common room, he caught some movement out of the corner of his eye. He stopped, and looked into the Great Hall. There seemed to be no one there.

"Hello?" Steven called. "Is anyone there?"

Not a sound. He was feeling a little creeped out from starting into the dim silent hall, so he was about to turn to leave, when he heard a small shuffling sound behind the door. Then two wide eyes appeared in the darkness.

"Master Steven! Nibbs thought that might be you!" Nibbs the house elf skipped into the light.

Steven breathed a small sigh of relief. "Nibbs, it's so good to see you! How have you been?"

Nibbs folded his hands. "Fine, sir. Well.. I mean, that is to say… not too well, I'm afraid, Master Steven." He started wringing his hands nervously. "You see, well, my smallest one, Tibbs, has come down with the flu, sir. He's quite small, sir, and we're hoping he pulls through, sir."

"Oh Nibbs, I'm so sorry." Steven knelt down so that he was eye level with the elf. "Is there anything I can do?"

Nibbs looked away, then looked at Steven, his eyes filling with tears. "N-no sir." he sniffled and covered his eyes. "N-Nibbs is so sorry. Nibbs doesn't know why he is crying, sir. He-he never cries."

Steven pulled the house-elf into his arms. Nibbs was stiff for a moment, but then started shaking with silent sobs. They stayed there for a few minutes, in the entryway to the dark hall. A couple people walked by, and one glared at Steven. Steven glared right back. His friend was hurting, and Steven was going to stay right there until he felt better. Nibbs was crying too much to notice anyone else.

Steven pulled a handkerchief out of one of the pockets of his robes, handing it to Nibbs, who blew into it with a trumpeting sound.

"Nibbs apologizes, Master Steven. Nibbs doesn't know what came over him."

"It's alright Nibbs, you don't need to apologize. I just wish there was something more I could do to help."

Nibbs folded the handkerchief. "No sir, but that's very kind of you to say so, sir. Could Nibbs return this when it is clean, sir?" Nibbs held up the handkerchief.

Steven smiled. "Keep it as long as you need to, Nibbs. And if you really want to give it back, I'll be visiting the kitchens again soon. Does your family live in the kitchens too? I'd like to come and visit Tibbs."

Nibbs paled slightly. "Sir, no human has ever come into our living place before… I don't know if… but perhaps-"

"Oh, if I can't come in, that's okay. I can just write him a card or something."

Nibbs scratched his head. "If Master Steven did want to see Tibbs, Nibbs could bring him out to the kitchens when master comes. I think he would be glad to meet you, sir. Nibbs would just be worried that Master Steven would catch the flu."

Steven grinned. "I think I might be quite a bit bigger than Tibbs. Even if I did catch the flu, it would be a much smaller flu."

Nibbs chuckled. "Yes, Nibbs supposes that would be true." He suddenly looked down at the floor, and then looked around. "I-I suppose Nibbs should get back to work, sir. Nibbs was just sweeping when you came in. Was Master Steven looking for his friend?"

"My friend?"

"Yes, he just came in a moment ago. Went down that hidden hole in the corner. Master Steven sits with him sometimes. He be short for a first year, black hair, very quiet, sir."

That sounded like Tom. Going down the secret trapdoor to the dungeons? Why didn't he just go by way of the Slytherin common room? And it was almost curfew. Steven didn't want to elbow into Tom's private business, but he did want to make sure Tom was okay.

"Nibbs, I think I need to follow him. I need to make sure that he is alright."

Nibbs nodded. "Very good, sir. Do you want Nibbs to come with you, sir?"

Steven swallowed. He thought of that dark hallway, and the voices that only Tom could hear. He pulled out his wand and lit it. "No Nibbs, I think I should go alone. But if I'm not back soon, maybe come and make sure everything's alright?"

Nibbs nodded again, clutching his broom. "Yes, sir. Be safe sir."

Steven crept to the corner, and pulled up the flagstone that was actually a trap door. He gulped, and crept down into the hole.


	13. Chapter 13

Steven's wandlight glistened off the damp walls. He vaguely remembered the stairway spiraling all the way down to the dungeons. The sound of his footsteps on the cold stone echoed off the walls. Steven thought he could even hear the sound of his own heartbeat filling the stairwell. When he had come this way before with Steven and Sylvia, he had just barely been able to keep his eyes open, but now that he was here alone, his eyes were wide open, searching for any glimmer of light.

"Tom?" he whispered, not expecting a response. "Are you there?"

Tom would be much farther down the corridor than this. Steven had a pretty strong hunch of where he would be. Steven gulped, and gripped his wand tightly. He wanted to stay as far away from that S hallway as possible, but he had to find out what was going on with his friend. If Tom was struggling with something, Steven wanted to be there to help him. Just like he had been there to help Nibbs.

The hem of Steven's robes caught under his foot, and he almost slipped down the stairs. He just barely caught himself, but he thought he heard someone snickering. The sound sent chills up his spine, and he looked around. He couldn't see anyone. He hoped it wasn't a ghost. Steven hugged himself and shivered. Ghosts scared him. When he had gone to public school in the muggle world, there was a boy who told Steven stories about ghosts that would sneak up on fat boys at night to steal their extra skin. The first night after that he hadn't been able to sleep for hours, but couldn't get out of bed because he was too scared that if he made any noise, or even moved at all, the skin snatchers would get him. For a week afterwards, he had slept in his parents' bed. And then he came to Hogwarts and had seen all the ghosts. In the back of his mind, he knew that they would never let skin snatching ghosts into a school full of children, but he tried to stay as far away from them as possible.

Steven set his jaw and started humming. His mother had always told him to hum a happy song when he was scared. His humming helped him drag his feet down the stairs, and his wand hand shook a little less. The stairs went down, farther than Steven remembered. They were going all the way from the Great Hall to the dungeons, but shouldn't he be getting close by now? He pulled out his map for a moment. He studied it, and realized he hadn't even marked this staircase the first time he had been down here. Steven plunked down right there on the stairs and started making notes.

"You came down here to do homework?" said a low smooth voice.

Steven almost jumped out of his skin. He dropped his pencil, and scrambled to grab it before it rolled down the stairs.

"Who are you?!" Steven squeaked, curled into a ball. "Who's there?"

Steven had the feeling of being plunged into a bucket of ice water as a goateed ghost drifted through him.

"You're quite far from your common room, for a Hufflepuff." drawled the ghost, picking at a bloodstain on his suit. "I should get the Fat Friar down here to escort you back. Of course, he's probably passed out in the kitchens somewhere."

Steven shivered. "I… I don't… who…"

"Don't tell me you've never heard of the Bloody Baron before?" asked the ghost, inspecting a long rapier. "Ghost of Slytherin house? Gentleman of Hogwarts castle? No?"

Steven shook his head, eyes still wide with terror.

"You are a scared little rabbit, aren't you? Maybe I should take you back to the Hufflepuff common room myself…"

Steven gritted his teeth and stood up. "I-I'm here to find my friend."

"Your friend is probably cozy in bed right now back in your own dormitory. Now, back home with you." The ghost tried to shoo Steven away with a translucent hand.

Steven stood tall. "I have - I have to go this way. Let me through."

The ghost shrugged his shoulders. "Suit yourself." He started drifting away, but then paused. "Although I would be careful down here if I were you. Your kind are not exactly… welcome down here." And with that, the ghost whisked right through Steven, making him feel like he was doused with ice water again.

He stood there for a moment, shivering, then crumpled to his knees, breathing hard. He clenched his hands and tried to hold back tears, but they squeezed out of the corners of his eyes. He couldn't do this. He couldn't do any of it. Steven pulled his knees up to his chest and rocked back and forth, quietly crying into his pant legs. It was all too scary. But if it was too scary for Steven, it was probably too scary for Tom too. Steven had to find him.

Steven wiped his nose on his shirtsleeve, gave a huge sniff, and tried to blink away the tears. He put his map back into his bookbag, stood up, and started off down the stairs full of purpose. He would find Tom, and then after he would go straight to the kitchens and get a mug of hot chocolate. That would make everything better.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and looked down the long corridor. There was firelight at the end, but here all the lanterns on the wall had been out out. The only light was reflected back at Steven from his wandlight, making the walls almost seem to glisten with a light of their own. The reflected light was a little unnerving, but almost had a kind of beauty to it. Steven cautiously made his way down the hallway, cringing a little at the sound of his footsteps on the stone floor. Before long, he found the open archway that lead into the S hallway. Steven felt for the engraved S on the wall, and felt the cold stern pattern under his fingers.

Steven felt in his gut that Tom was here.

He set his jaw and started down the corridor. Just like Tom and Sylvia had said, it gently spiraled downwards towards… what? Steven was already in the dungeons, he didn't know of any floor lower than that. His stomach sunk along with the hallway. Steven was as curious as the next person, but something about this place just felt wrong. Steven realized that curious swirling patterns along the walls were softly glowing with a green light. He hardly needed his wand for light anymore.

Steven put out the light of his wand. The green light lead him further and further down the winding corridor. Soon, he came across a door on his left. Maybe Tom was there. Steven ran up to the door, about to open it, but hesitated. Maybe Tom didn't want to be barged in on. Steven listened at the ancient wooden door to see if he could hear anything. Nothing. Steven knocked softly. There was no response. He pushed at the door, and it creaked slowly open.

The door opened on what looked to be a bedroom. It was covered in dust, obviously unused for quite some time. In the far corner was a large four poster bed, with a wardrobe facing it, and a washstand in the opposite corner. Over the bed, there was a motto carved:

Victoria et Ultio

Steven wondered why there would be bedrooms down here. It didn't really seem like a nice place to sleep, what with creepy green lights and preppy Latin mottos over the bed. Then again, he was used to the cozy Hufflepuff common room right next to the kitchens.

Steven shrugged and closed the door to the room. He looked down the hallway, and saw another door a few feet away. He listened at this one too, heard nothing, and peeked in. It was the same set up; bed, wardrobe, washstand, and motto. He ran to the next one, and the next one, and the next one. They were all the same. Just bedrooms. This was a little weird. Who would be sleeping here? Everyone in the school already had their own dormitories, with less dusty beds to sleep on. Maybe it was for exchange students? Were there even any other wizard schools nearby? Steven didn't know.

He was about to open one more door when he heard something from behind it. It was a quiet sort of sound, like the sound of something dragging across a carpeted floor. Steven bent close to the door to hear. There was some kind of hissing noise coming from inside. It stopped, then he heard another one. A different hissing sound, a lower, deeper hissing that seemed to respond to the first one. The hairs on the back of Steven's neck stood up. He bit his tongue to keep himself from making any kind of noise. He quietly stepped away from the door, breathing hard, but as quietly as possible. He had to see what was in there. What if Tom was trapped in there or something? But he didn't want to alert whatever monster was in there.

Slowly, Steven crawled back to the door. He could hear the hissing again. It had gone up in intensity, and the responses from the higher hisses were more immediate. Steven gulped, sent up a short prayer to every deity he knew of, and peeked under the door. There was just enough space to see Tom kneeling down, facing the wall across from the bed, his forehead against the cold stone. There was no one else in the room. Tom's mouth contorted in strange ways as he made the high pitched hissing noises. Steven looked at Tom's face, and could see tear stains on his cheeks. But Tom didn't look sad. He looked… angry. His eyes scrunched up and he banged his fist on the wall. Steven jumped. He quickly froze and checked under the door to see if Tom had noticed the sound. Tom had gone silent. And then that deep low hissing started again. Steven pulled his head back and his breathing quickened. Whatever that deep hissing was, Steven had to get away from it. The sound chilled him to the bone, and he almost felt paralyzed with fear. He crawled quickly and quietly to the last bedroom door he had looked into, pushed open the door and darted in. He had just quietly closed the door behind him when he heard a door closing, and footsteps coming towards his door from the room Tom had been in. Steven's heart quickened as the steps approached the door… then made their way up the corridor.

Steven breathed a sigh of relief. He slumped against the door, shaking. He waited for Tom's footsteps to fade away. His legs were shaking too much to stand up, so he just sat on the floor, rocking back and forth. Steven glanced at his book bag and saw a corner of his map sticking out. Maybe since he was stuck here until Tom left, he would mark down this corridor as somewhere to never come again. He pulled out the map, and his books fell out with a thud. Steven froze, expecting the footsteps to come back his way. They didn't. Steven let out a held breath, and started picking up the books. He stacked up _Magical Drafts and Potions, Book of Spells,_ and _Basic Latin for the Modern Wizard_. As he was about to put them into his bag, he paused. _Basic Latin_ … Maybe he could translate the creepy phrase on the wall. He opened up the book to "victoria" and then to "ultimo". Then he put the phrase together:

Victory and Vengeance


	14. Chapter 14

The words sent a chill up Steven's spine. Victory and Vengeance? What did that even mean? He slammed the book shut and stuffed it in his bag. He had to get out of here. This place was creepy as heck. He threw the book bag straps over his shoulder and cracked the door open to peek through. The corridor was empty.

"I see you didn't make it back to the common room." said a silky voice behind Steven.

Steven jumped up and hit his head on the doorknob.

"Ouch!"

He grabbed his head and whipped around to see the ghost he had met, the Bloody Baron, sitting on the bed behind him, examining his fingernails.

"Careful of those doorknobs." said the ghost. "I told you this place wasn't welcoming to outsiders."

Steven rubbed his head gingerly, irritated. "Why are you following me around? Don't you have somewhere else to be?"

The ghost smiled at his nails. "This seemed far more entertaining than terrorizing Peeves."

Steven stood and opened the door. He didn't have time to deal with pompous ghosts. He was hungry, tired, and more than a little freaked out by his friend's creepy behavior. He listened for a moment. He didn't hear any of that deep hissing from earlier, so he started up the corridor. The ghost floated out of the room behind him, and the green light cast from the walls cast weird shadows through his translucent body.

"I assume you have questions about what was happening in that room." commented the ghost.

Steven said nothing, and kept walking. He did have questions, but he was more concerned about getting out of that corridor as soon as possible.

"I must say," continued the ghost, "I'm surprised that a Hufflepuff of your… status… would come down here. A Ravenclaw, maybe, a Gryffindor out of sheer stupidity; I could see both of those getting curious or coming down here on a dare, but a Hufflepuff? Seems rather unreasonable to me." The ghost gave a sideways glance at Steven. "What did you even gain from spying on your friend, anyway?"

Steven bristled.

"I wasn't spying on him." he muttered.

"I see." the ghost sneered. "So you're going to stroll up to him tomorrow morning and tell him all about your little escapade into this secret Slytherin hallway? You'll have a jolly old time cracking jokes about his alone time that you happened to be privy to?"

Steven's stomach sunk to his shoes. How could he ever ask Tom about what he had seen? He hadn't exactly been invited in. So had he been spying? Steven didn't even know how he would be able to help Tom with whatever it was he was struggling with. This was all way over his head.

The Bloody Baron smiled. "Not talkative as you were before, eh? If I were you, I would forget about all about this whole thing. No need to worry about something this big when you are so young."

"I am worried though." Steven whispered. "Tom was talking to that… that sound. Whatever it was. It… it can't be safe… right?"

The ghost shrugged. "Depends on who is talking to it."

They walked in silence for a minute.

"But… Tom looked so angry. If he's not happy talking to that… thing… why is he doing it?"

The Bloody Baron snorted. "You think I know everything? Even if I did know, I have no reason to reveal anything to you."

They came to the stairs back up to the Great Hall.

"Hopefully you can find the way back to the Hufflepuff common room from here. If you like, I can make sure your path is free of teachers before you head up."

Steven nodded dully. "Thanks."

The ghost disappeared into the stairs, and Steven sat down on the floor, shaking. It was too much. What was going on? Yesterday he had just been worried about his classes and that he hadn't spent enough time with his friends. But now… he didn't even know what kind of sound Tom had made. And the deep sound… It almost sounds like what he thought a dragon would sound like if it was asleep. But an underground dragon. An underground dragon that made your blood turn into ice water.

Steven shivered, and heard a throat clearing behind him.

"The hallway to your common room is clear. Mr. Carpe was wandering around, but I set Peeves on an errand on the third floor that should keep him busy for a while."

Steven nodded and set off up the stairs. He hesitated a moment before saying thank you to the ghost.

The ghost gave a small bow. "If I were you, I'd be a little more careful in the future, son. Not everyone, alive or dead, is as much of a gentleman as I am."

The Bloody Baron faded into the wall, and Steven ran as fast as his tired legs would carry him up the stairs.

At the top of the stairs, Steven met Nibbs, who walked with him back to the kitchens. Nibbs whispered nervously to Steven the whole way there, about how scared he had been while Steven was down in the dungeons, how worried he was about his family, and how he hoped that everything would turn out alright in the end. Steven nodded every once in a while to show he was listening, but his mind was still in that hallway thinking about Tom. Nibbs sat him down in the kitchen and one of the other elves, Nipsy, brought him hot chocolate without asking any questions. Nibbs told his wife about how worried Steven had been about their family, and she immediately brought a blanket over and laid it over Steven's shoulders.

"Master Steven should get some rest." one of the elves commented.

"It is very late, sir." another said, patting his hand.

Steven just stared ahead, seeing nothing. He couldn't think straight, though he thought the hot chocolate might be helping. There was too much to think about, and it was too late at night for his brain to be working anyway. He should have been asleep in his warm bed hours ago. A thin hand patted his arm. Steven blinked, and looked down to see Patty, one of the house elves, smiling up at him with dimpled cheeks.

"If there is anything we can do for Master Steven, we is happy to help."

Steven smiled. If anyone could brighten up a room with a smile, it was Patty. He stood up, gave back the empty mug and the blanket, thanked each of the elves for staying up so late, and clambered from behind the portrait and back to his common room. He laid down in his bed, and took a shaky deep breath. Everything would be fine. It was all going to be okay.

The next morning dawned clear and cold. Autumn was drawing to a close, and there was frost on the windows when Steven opened his eyes. He sat up, his blond hair sticking up like straw all over his head. He rubbed his eyes and squinted out the window. It was bright. Too bright. He fumbled for the watch on his bedside table, and peered at the clock. 9:20. He bolted out of bed and threw on his robes. Care of Magical Creatures started at 9:30. He had completely missed Herbology. Steven grabbed his shoes and ran down the stairs in bare feet. No breakfast this morning. His stomach grumbled in protest.

Luckily, he usually packed some kind of snack, just for emergencies like this. He pulled open his bookbag. Nothing. He had eaten his last snack while studying History of Magic last night. He groaned, slammed his feet in his shoes, and dashed out the common room door, trying to smooth down his hair as he went. Maybe he had time to get some food from the kitchens? But he always spent more time than he meant to when he went in there. He tore his eyes away from the portrait of fruit, and ran down the corridor and out the door to Care of Magical Creatures.

Care of Magical Creatures was one of the classes Steven had the least trouble with. Professor Scamander would often scold the other students for not holding their animals properly, or being too rough with them, but Steven seemed to have a special knack for handling them. Right now they were studying bowtruckles, the little stick creatures that lived in and guarded wand trees. Professor Scamander had a specific grove of wand trees that he had grown just for his bowtruckle colony. The wood was so good that some of the branches were occasionally sold to wandmakers to make a little extra money for the school. Professor Scamander was protective of his bowtruckle trees though, and would only sell a few branches a year.

Steven ran for the grove of trees, and got there just as class was starting. He was sweating, and didn't realize until after he stopped how cold it was outside. He shivered and wiped the sweat off his face.

A Gryffindor girl next to him smiled and handed him a handkerchief.

"Did you run all the way here?" she whispered.

Steven nodded, accepting the handkerchief and wiping his neck dry. He had seen her before in class, but had never really talked to her before. He thought that maybe she was named Andrea. The class suddenly started shifting, everyone breaking off into small groups and spreading out.

"Professor S just told us that it's getting to cold for the bowtruckles to come out, so we're gathering some moss and feathers and things for them to put in their nests so that they can hibernate. He said that usually they do it themselves, but this year winter came too fast."

Steven nodded. He wasn't really in the mood to chat, since he was still so hungry. And now he didn't even have a group.

"Um…" he mumbled. "Could I maybe…"

"Join our group? Sure." the Gryffindor girl replied. "I'm Angela, by the way."

Right. Angela. "Steven."

Angela pointed to a square jawed Hufflepuff boy behind her. "This is my friend Todd. We actually grew up together and got our owls the same day."

Steven smiled at Todd. "Pleased to meet you."

Todd just glared back at Steven.

"He's much more talkative once you get to know him." said Angela.

Steven nodded, and shivered again. He just wanted to go back inside where it was warm and get some breakfast.

"It's cold out here, isn't it? I wish I had remembered to bring my scarf. It looked so nice outside from the castle." said Angela, her teeth chattering.

The Hufflepuff boy, Todd, immediately unwrapped his scarf from around his neck and gave it to Angela.

"Oh. Thanks, Todd." Angela smiled. She pointed to the forest. "Maybe it will be warmer in those trees, where there isn't so much wind. Plus there's probably more moss and things in there." She took off into the forest.

Todd shrugged and followed her, Steven trailing behind. Steven was lollygagging, and he knew it. He just wasn't himself. So many things had happened lately that he felt like he didn't even know how to be himself anymore. He drug his feet, looking around for moss, when he saw a plant that made him stop dead in his tracks. A blackberry bush. He made a beeline straight for it, and started picking as many blackberries as he could, stuffing them in his mouth as he went.

He was there for about twenty minutes before he realized that his group had moved on without him. Angela and Todd were nowhere to be seen. He looked down at his hands. They were stained all over with purple blackberry juice. His face probably matched his hands. Well, this was all just embarrassing. Covered in juice, not showered, cold, still hungry, and he was lost. Steven automatically checked his bag for his map. He had left it in his dormitory. And anyhow, maps were only good when you had paths to follow. There were no paths in this forest.

Steven sat down on the cold wet ground. His throat felt tight, and his head felt swollen, like it always did when he was about to cry. He tried to swallow it down. He had already cried once in the last twenty-four hours, and he didn't want to do it again. Crying made him feel tired, and he was already exhausted from staying out all night. Steven pulled his knees to his face and tried to take deep breaths. He rocked back and forth a little. Things would be okay. He wasn't lost; he was only a few steps away from the edge of the forest. And plus, class was probably almost over anyway, so if he got moving he could probably get back before the end, and then stop by the Great Hall for a snack. It would be okay. Maybe.


	15. Chapter 15

Steven sniffled, and started picking at a clump of dirt. He should probably go find some help or something, but his brain just wasn't working right now. There were just too many things going on. Plus, now that he had gotten some blackberries inside of him, he had a little more energy to think about what had happened the night before. What had Tom been thinking? Going into that dank, dark, scary place alone? What if he had run into something dangerous? Could he not think of any friends that would go with him? Steven's stomach turned. He hadn't wanted to go in there. What if Tom hadn't felt comfortable asking Steven to come with him, because he thought Steven would say no? Was Steven a bad friend? And then there was that creepy ghost too. It seemed like he had all the answers, but he just didn't want to tell them to Steven. What was his name? The Bloody Baron? Steven shivered. Even his name was scary. And the thing Tom had been talking to… It had sounded alive, like some sort of monster maybe? Who would know about monsters?

"Steven!" he heard a voice calling. Steven turned to see Todd, Angela's friend, striding towards him.

"I'm over here!" Steven yelled, standing up and wiping as much of the tear stained blackberry juice off his face as he could with his sleeve.

Todd jogged over to him. "Sorry, didn't notice you had gone off. Then we turned around and couldn't see you anywhere."

"Sorry… I guess I got distracted." Steven kicked at a piece of grass. He still wasn't feeling like a people person.

"That's okay, I know we can be pretty boring." He held out some moss. "We found some moss, and I got some for you if you want some to bring back to class. I mean," he said quickly, "You don't have to, I just thought since you didn't get a chance, I would maybe, you know, grab some extra."

Steven nodded. "Thanks. I do need some."

Todd nodded, looked around, then pointed behind him. "I think Angela already went back. Should we…"

Steven nodded again, and they set off together back to class in awkward silence. Todd scratched his ear, then stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"So… what year are you?" asked Todd.

"First year."

"Nice! I'm a second year."

Steven looked Todd up and down. Todd was about a head and a half taller than Steven, and twice as broad shouldered.

"You're tall. I thought you were at least a third year."

Todd shrugged. "My mum says I'm just big for my age. She wanted me to go out for rugby before I got my letter."

"Do you have not magic parents, then?" asked Steven.

"My dad went here. My mum's a Muggle though. My dad and Angela's dad are old school friends."

Steven nodded. "Is that why you are such good friends, then?"

Tod shrugged. "Sorta, yeah. She was always at our house… I don't really know why. She's kinda like a sister, I guess."

They fell silent. Todd fidgeted with a thread on his sleeve, and Steven was lost in his own thoughts.

"What about you?" Todd asked. "I mean… what's your family like?"

"Hm? Oh. I have three younger sisters. And a mum and dad. None of them know any magic." Steven kicked at a rock. He hadn't written his mum lately. Maybe she would be able to help with all of this. Would she even understand what was going on with Tom?

"What does your dad do?" asked Todd.

"Um. I'm actually not sure. I know he does something at a bank. He's gone a lot."

They arrived back at the grove of bowtruckle trees. Angela waved at them from a cluster of classmates. Todd and Steven went to join her.

"Welcome back, slowpokes." Angela smiled. "Professor S is just reminding us to be careful with the bowtruckles tiny legs. Again." She rolled her eyes. "But, I've reserved us a table. Come on." The class broke into their groups, and Angela lead the way to a small round table. She picked up one of the bowtruckle houses lying on the table, a little smaller than a birdhouse, and started stuffing moss inside. Steven nearly grabbed the house away from her.

"Wait! You have to make sure there isn't one already in there!"

"Whoops! I forgot." Angela picked the moss out delicately. "Oh yeah. There he is, on the bottom."

Steven gingerly took the house from her and looked inside. The bowtruckle laid on the bottom, doing its best to look exactly like a stick. Steven carefully slid him onto the table, and gently picked him up and laid him in his palm. Steven handed the house back to Angela.

"Try again. I'll hold onto him while you fix his house up."

Angela put the moss a little more gently into the house, and the bowtruckle calmed down in Steven's hand. It put out a couple twig-like feelers, and propped itself up on two spindly arms, sniffing around for any danger.

"So did you two have fun getting to know each other?" asked Angela.

Todd turned a little pink. He must be a little shy. That would explain his awkwardness on the walk back.

"Yeah, Todd told me all about his family." replied Steven. "What's your family like, Angela?"

Now Angela turned a little red. "Um, well…"

"We don't really talk about it." Todd quickly interjected.

Angela nodded.

"Oh. Okay then." Steven went back to examining Angela's bowtruckle.

They sat in silence for another five minutes or so and worked on their projects.

"I think mine is about done." piped up Angela. "Should we put him back in and see how he does?"

Steven nodded, and he placed the bowtruckle gently in the box. It scuttled around for a minute, then chittered happily, settling down for a nap.

"Aw, he's so cute!" cooed Angela.

Steven and Todd wrapped up their houses, then they all took them over to Professor Scamander, who hung each of them up in one of the wand trees.

Steven smiled at Professor Scamander as he handed his house over, and the teacher gave a small smile back. Professor S was pretty quiet. He even had a hard time talking to students every once in a while. Often Steven tried to chat with him before class, but of course, he'd been late today.

"Glad to see you made it today, Steven." Professor S raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh… yes, sorry professor, I overslept."

"I see." The professor turned to hang up the bowtruckle house. "Could you see me after class?"

Steven's stomach dropped. He'd never been in trouble in this class before. And now he had screwed it up. Just like everything else.

"Yes sir."

Steven hung back while the rest of the class drifted back to the castle. Todd and Angela glanced back at Steven, who sat alone at a table fiddling with some fallen leaves. Professor Scamander sat down next to him.

"You're not in trouble, Steven." Professor Scamander smiled. "I just wanted to see how you were doing is all."

Steven sniffed, and didn't say anything. They sat in silence for a few minutes, then the professor reached into his pocket and pulled out a green lizard about as big as his hand. He set it on the table, and it started scurrying around.

"What is that?" asked Steven.

The lizard noticed him, and shrunk to the size of a knut. Professor Scamander held his hand out and the lizard crawled onto his finger.

"This is a moke. When it's startled or nervous, it shrinks up so that nothing scary can find it. Most of the time it's when it meets something new."

The moke grew a little bigger, curling up in the professor's hand.

"Sometimes, I think creatures like this do what we would like to do. Shrink into ourselves, hide from the world, things like that."

Professor Scamander glanced at Steven, who was letting the moke sniff at his finger.

"Is there anything… unfamiliar going on? Something that would turn you into a tiny little moke?"

Steven stroked the lizard's back, and it started swelling a little bigger. Everything was unfamiliar right now. His friends were unfamiliar, his classes were still unfamiliar, the entire magical world was unfamiliar. And then there was that corridor…

"Professor, yesterday I heard something… something really scary. My friend… he was making weird noises. And I'm scared. I'm really scared for him. He looked angry. He was so mad. And he was mean, he was really mean to me earlier. And I just want him to be okay, but I think he doesn't like me anymore. But then Professor Dumbledore said that I shouldn't be friends with him, but if I'm not his friend, then no one will be. But I'm really scared of him too. He was acting… so weird. And the voice made me feel like… like there were things creeping up my legs. But like my feet were frozen to the ground. And like my stomach was falling through the floor…"

Steven's voice drifted off. He started picking at the splintering table again. Professor Scamander rolled the moke onto it's back, and started tickling its stomach.

"You said your friend was making weird noises? What sort of noises were they?"

Steven shrugged. "I don't know… Maybe it was some kind of animal noise? It sounded almost like a dragon noise."

The professor raised his eyebrows. "A dragon?"

"Well, maybe not a dragon. I've never heard a dragon before. Are dragons even real?"

Professor Scamander smiled. "Yes, dragons are real. Was your friend talking to someone else? A different creature perhaps?"

"Maybe… I didn't see anything. But there might have been something behind the wall."

"Hmm… Making dragon sounds at walls? That does sound interesting. I'm not sure what your friend would be talking to, but if you want I might be able to do a little research on it." Professor Scamander put the moke back into his coat pocket.

"Do you think I should ask my friend why he was making those weird noises?"

The professor stood up, thoughtful. "Maybe wait for a bit. People can be a bit trickier to deal with than creatures sometimes."


	16. Chapter 16

The next few days Steven walked around in a haze. He didn't wave at friends in the corridor, or visit the kitchens, or do anything more than go to meals and classes. Studying was almost non-existent, and he only felt alert when he noticed Tom in the halls. At those times he would make himself as small as possible and desperately try not to make eye contact.

Saturday morning he stared glumly at his oatmeal, when suddenly something cuffed him on the back of the head.

"Ow!"

"You bloody idiot!" someone shouted behind him. "Tom and I were waiting outside our common room for you for an hour last night! Where were you?"

Steven turned to see Sylvia's angry eyes flashing at him.

"Sylvia, I'm so sorry, I must have forgot-"

"You have no excuse, Steven! We were there waiting for so long that we went to your common room, but of course we couldn't get in, and anyway, we shouldn't even have to because we're friends and you should have shown up!"

Sylvia's eyes were glistening. Steven had never seen Sylvia cry before. He had always thought she was too cool to cry. He stood up and put his arms around Sylvia.

"I really am so sorry… I should have been thinking about you guys. How can I fix it?"

Sylvia pushed him away, but then plopped down on the seat next to his, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve.

"You really are such a dork. I don't need your hugs, I need you to finish that map. Where is the stupid thing?"

She sniffed loudly, and Steven nervously sat down next to her. He pulled out his map and handed it to her. Sylvia shoved a plate of bacon to the side, and laid the map out.

"Luckily," she said as she unfolded the map, "After we gave up on you, Tom and I explored that S corridor, so now you don't have-"

She stopped, staring at the map.

"You already went down there."

Steven nodded.

"By yourself?"

Steven took a deep breath. "Did Tom tell you anything about that corridor before you went?"

"Yeah, but Tom said that he had only gone by himself. He didn't say anything about you being there too."

Steven breathed a sigh of relief. So Tom didn't know that Steven had followed him.

"Sylvia, I need to tell you something. And you can't breathe a word of it to Tom."

Sylvia glared at him. "I'm still mad at you you know… but I guess I won't tell." She snorted. "I'm always a sucker for secrets."

Steven smiled, relaxing. He had really been needing to tell someone who knew who Tom was.

"The other night, I followed Tom down that corridor. He was by himself and it was really late at night, so I wanted to make sure he was okay. But when I caught up to him, he was making these strange noises, like he was talking to someone… or something."

"What were the sounds like?"

"It was like… have you ever listened to a radio before? It's a non-magic thing."

"I think I've heard of them before… Isn't it like muggles talking to each other from far away?"

"Kind of. I think you're thinking of a telephone though. This is more like listening to music from far away."

"Wait, I think I've seen those before! Yeah, there are a few enchanted ones around for wizards… I think my friend Susan has one."

"Yeah, that's it! You know when there's a lot of static in between stations? The kind of buzzy gravelly type of noise? That's what Tom sounded like."

Sylvia rubbed her chin. "Interesting… and you said that he was talking to something?"

"I think so… I couldn't see it, but I could hear it. It was making the same type of sound, all gravelly, but it sounded a lot deeper."

"I think I actually might know what that is. Have you ever heard of Parseltongue before?"

Steven shook his head.

"It usually shows up in pureblood families. You know, all magical ones. Salazar Slytherin, the founder of Slytherin house, could do it. Parseltongue means you can talk to snakes. That's why the symbol of Slytherin is a snake."

"Woah… So does that mean that Helga Hufflepuff could talk to badgers?"

Sylvia laughed. "No, I think badgers are just really hard working and tough. She probably just thought they were really cool."

Steven smiled ruefully. Just one more way that Slytherin was cooler than Hufflepuff.

"So this talking to snakes… do you think Tom can do it?"

Sylvia shrugged. "Maybe. I've never actually seen anyone talk to a snake before, although sometimes pureblood parents will give their kids pet snakes to try and bring it out. But last night while we were exploring, I heard him make a sound like that to open a door. I thought Tom was an orphan though. Does he know if both his parents were both magical?"

Steven shook his head. "I don't think so… I think he said that his mother died, I think he was pretty sure she was non-magical though. But his dad… I'm not sure. He didn't seem to know a lot about him when I last asked him about it. Do your parents both have to be magical to get it?"

"I've never heard of anyone else getting it. I think you may have to even be a descendant of Slytherin, and they have always been pretty strict on only marrying other purebloods. So I bet if Tom can speak Parseltongue, we could look him up in some family tree somewhere."

Steven nodded. "We could do that. It sounds like a lot of work though."

Sylvia rolled her eyes. "Steven, you know my speciality is doing anything that isn't school work. I love researching this kind of stuff. And who knows, maybe we can get Tom's help too. I'm sure he'd like to know who his parents are."

Steven smiled. Talking to Sylvia had made him feel better. At least now he had some kind of solution, or and least something they could try to figure out.

"So, you don't think Tom is being weird or creepy?"

"Tom? No, he was quite pleasant to me last night." Sylvia replied, still studying the map. "Speaking of which, it looks like you didn't quite get to the end of the S corridor, you only went about halfway down." She started sketching on his map.

"Was there anything besides the bedroom doors that you found?"

"Yeah, although those were a little weird. There's this huge room at the end that's right under the great hall, and it's just as big too. It's like a homage to Salazar Slytherin. There's a really cool statue of him and everything. I've been wondering if that's where he's buried." She drew a large room on the map with a bearded face at one end of the room. "That's Slytherin. Then there are these cool snakes lining the walls…" she drew some snakes. "Oh… I just remembered Tom told me not to tell anyone that we were in there. But this is for science, right?" Sylvia smiled.

Steven smiled back. "Yeah. And we could even put some kind of vanishing charm on this part of the map when it's done, so you have to have a password or something to show it."

"Excellent idea! I need to figure out how to do that." She made a note on the side of the map.

"Sylvia," asked Steven, "was there anything else Tom said that was… out of the ordinary? He's been acting a little weird to me lately."

"Weird… He's been normal to me. Even a little more pleasant than usual to tell you the truth. We talked a lot about my family yesterday while we were exploring."

Steven shrunk. "That means it's just me he's being mean to… I guess that means I did something wrong."

"Steven, even when you do mess up, it's not something anyone can be mad at for very long. You're a good kid, and Tom may have just been having a bad day. So don't worry about it. We shall riddle out this mystery!"


	17. Chapter 17

_Dear Mom,_

 _How are things at home? How are Krissy and Jamie? Janet writes me sometimes, but I think she just likes to have the owl take the piece of paper from her. Do you see Dad very often?_

 _Things are okay here. School is really hard. I have been studying a lot for my classes. There's a really cool study room that I've been going to, so that made things a little easier. Transfiguration is super hard. They use a lot of math that I don't know how to do yet. But I really like Care of Magical Creatures, the professor is really nice._

 _I have some really good friends. My friends who work in the kitchens are always so nice to me, I wish I could do something for them too. They aren't students here or anything, but they are just always so happy and nice. Sylvia hangs out with me the most, she really likes to read and is super smart. Tom is really cool too. He has a lot of things going on and has been really busy lately. I think he has something personal going on, but I'm nervous to ask him about it. I'm really worried about him. One of the teachers told me not to be friends with him because he's a bad kid. But he's really not._

 _That one girl, Walberga, is still mean to me sometimes. She's mean because I'm not from a magical family. And I've tried to be nice to her, but she keeps being mean. The club I talked to you about last time stopped inviting me because she's in it and didn't want me there. What do I do?_

 _I hope you're having a good day. Send more letters!_

 _Love, Steven_

Steven wrote his family's address on the letter and put it in his bag, heading up to the owlery. At the beginning of term, he had written his mom every week on Sunday afternoons, but lately he had been preoccupied with other things and had forgotten. His mother had actually sent him a very worried letter just yesterday, and it had made him feel guilty for not writing as often as he should.

He looked up the thin, winding staircase to the owlery. There were so many stairs. He sighed, then started the long trip up. Steven had already chronicaled this staircase on his map a long time ago, so there wasn't much more he could add to his map. He looked up the stairs, and noticed two figures at the heading towards him. There was barely room for one on this tiny staircase; there was no way Steven would be able to squeeze past them. Steven looked behind him. He had already come pretty far. Steven groaned. He would just have to go back down, wait for the people to pass, then go back up to deliver his letter.

Steven turned and started heading back down the stairs. He had only gotten a few stairs down when he heard the voices of the people behind him. It was Tom and... was that Walburga? He looked behind him. Both Tom and Walburga were headed towards him. Steven started walking a little faster. He didn't want to run into either of them at the moment. He was nearly to the bottom of the stairs when Tom called out to him.

"Egbert? Is that you?"

Steven froze, and turned around. Tom smiled amicably at him, as if they had just had tea yesterday, instead of avoiding each other every time they saw each other. Walburga rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, the mudblood? Why would you even talk to him, Riddle? He's useless, a waste of space." She turned to Steven. "Clear out, muggle lover, the wizards are coming through!"

Steven turned to walk back down the stairs. His heart was pounding from the injustice of it all. No matter what he tried, he couldn't make her stop. And Tom, who used to be his friend, was with her?

"He's not completely useless."

Steven froze and stared at Tom. Walburga's face looked like she had just stepped in something disgusting. Tom, however, was smiling.

"Everyone has their uses, Miss Black. Just because someone is of lower rank than you are doesn't mean they aren't useful."

Steven wasn't sure if he liked this. The corners of Walburga's mouth lifted slightly.

"Yes, I guess you're right, Riddle. But what do you think this particular idiot could be useful for?"

Tom's smile wavered just for a moment, then he fell back into his calm smile. He took Walburga by the arm, then gently guided her past Steven.

"Now is not the time to discuss-"

"Because I think he'd make a great werewolf snack. I've heard that they like something to chew on while they turn their victims." Walburga turned to sneer at Steven before Tom led her away. Tom didn't even look behind him as they passed through the doorway.

Steven sat down on the stairs. Tom and Walberga were friends? How? Tom had seen how mean Walberga was to him, to houselves. Did Tom really care so little about him? Did his other friends even care about him at all?

He put his head in his hands. It was all too much. He should quit Hogwarts and go home. He never would have made a good wizard anyway. He stood up, the letter to his mother forgotten. He would go straight to Headmaster Dippet right now, and tell him that he was going home right now.

"Master Steven?" squeaked a tiny voice.

Steven looked down to see Polly the house elf hiding behind the stairs.

"Polly is so sorry to bother Master Steven, but she heard was Miss Black was saying to him, sir."

Steven stuck his hands into his pockets and looked down at the floor.

"I'm… sorry you had to hear that, Polly."

"No no, Master Steven should never be sorry. Polly just wanted to say, sir, that Master Steven has been the best wizard friend that Polly has ever had. Or that any of us house elves has ever had. We is all feeling… like we is better than we is before. To know a kind wizard like Master Steven knows our names makes us feel proud to be a house elf, sir. What Master Steven did for Nibbs the other day… his boy Tibbs drew a pictures of his family and Master Steven all week. And for Master Steven to say those things to Miss Black when Polly was hurt… a wizard has never done that, not in all of house elf history! Polly just wants Master Steven to know that all of us would help Master Steven with anything, and not just because he is a master, but because he cares for us." Polly's large eyes were brimming with tears. "You is making us remember why house elves decided to be house elves in the first place."

Steven sank back onto the the stairs. "Polly, I didn't know, I'm sorry -"

"Master Steven should not be sorry for such good things! Polly just wanted to say that if Master Steven ever needs anything, all of us will be ready to do that thing." Polly did a cross between a bow and a curtsy, and stayed bent low with her nose brushing the floor. She stayed there for a solid thirty seconds before Steven realized she was waiting for him to say something.

"That's very kind of you, Polly, but I don't need anything at the moment."

"Nothing at all? Not even to spit into Miss Black's pumpkin juice?"

Steven laughed. "Well, I guess if you want to, but we really shouldn't-"

"Never fear Master Steven, we shall inconvenience Miss Black so much, she'll wish she never stepped through the Hogwarts' door!"

And with that, Polly dashed away.

"Wait!" called Steven. But she was already gone.

Steven fidgeted. He had been going to tell Polly to not do anything at all to Walberga. He wasn't completely comfortable with the house elves all ganging up on her that way. On the other hand, it would be great to Walberga to get a cold shower every once in a while. Steven started to smile. Maybe that would wake her up to all the mean things she was doing. Maybe it was better to let the house elves loose on her. On the other hand, it wasn't necessarily the best way to make her be his friend.

Maybe he could ask his mum about it. She would know what to do. He quickly pulled out his letter and scribbled:

 _PS - My friends from the kitchen saw that Walberga was being mean to me and so now they are doing their best to be as mean to her as possible. Just by playing tricks on her. Is that okay? Love Steven._

Steven sealed up his letter and ran up the stairs to the owlery to send it off..


	18. Chapter 18

Christmas was fast approaching. Snow piled up on the window sills, scarves and gloves came out of dusty old trunks, and fireplaces were lit up. All this meant that Steven had end of term tests soon. He started spending a lot of time studying in the Wishing Room up on the seventh floor. Casey was usually up there as well, but he had a few other students that he was tutoring, and didn't have a lot of time for Steven. Often they would just wave at each other on Steven's way out while Casey helped a younger student with Ancient Runes or Transfiguration.

The Monday before finals, Steven had been studying Transfiguration especially hard. He was still having trouble with turning a mouse into a match box; every time he tried the spell, the box would stay fluffy and squeak angrily if he tried to open it. He had read over his notes for hours on this particular spell, trying to get it just right. There had to be something he was missing.

He leaned back in his chair, and looked at the clock on the wall. It was nearly nine at night. Steven stretched and pondered the quote next to the clock, " _Help will always be given at Hogwarts to those who ask for it."_ He did need some kind of help with this Transfiguration spell, but the room was empty except for the ghost of a young woman reading in a corner. Steven felt a chill go up his spine. Alone with ghosts again? He gathered up his books and shoved them in his book bag, even though he had been planning on looking over some History of Magic before he left. He would try to get that done tomorrow. He glanced nervously up at the ghost, who was still absorbed in her book, and ducked out of the room. Steven breathed a sigh of relief. He still wasn't completely comfortable with ghosts, even after being here for almost four months.

Steven made his way down to his common room, gave the secret knock, and let himself in. He looked around. No ghosts. He smiled. There were just a few people hanging out and doing their studying on the large, overstuffed couches. Steven saw a girl on one end of one of the couches writing an essay. He flopped down on the other end, the whole couch bounced, and the girl's quill flew out of her hand.

"Wotch it!"

Steven whipped around. He knew that voice.

"Rina?"

"Yeah? Wha'cha want?"

Steven's stomach clenched. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with angsty girls at the moment.

"Nothing, I'll just go, sorry." He stood up to leave.

"Now don't get all miffed, I ain't gonna bite."

Steven felt like now he didn't have any excuse to leave. He slowly sat down on the couch, and tried to swallow the awkwardness he felt building up in the back of his throat.

"Um… what are you working on?"

"Wha', this thing?" Rina shook the paper. "Muggle Studies. Stupid subject. Like I don't get enough of studying my mum at home." Rina rolled her eyes. "I'd much rather work on the real magic like Transfiguration, 'stead of this tosh."

Steven narrowed his eyes at her. "Wait… you like Transfiguration? That's a really hard subject!"

"You think I'm some knobhead, do you?"

"N-No, I just thought, well, I mean... I'm rubbish at Transfiguration. I was studying just now for my practical exam. I can't even get a mouse to turn into a matchbox."

"Matchboxes? That's easy as pie, how'd you botch that up?"

"Well, um, here, I'll show you."

Steven pulled out the white mouse he had borrowed from the study room to practice on. He had put it in a small box with some air holes poked in the top, and had put some crumbs of cheese in a corner so it wouldn't be hungry. Steven placed the mouse on the desk, and cast the spell.

" _Flintifors!"_

The mouse turned into a rectangle shaped lump of white fur, with a crease where it should slide open. Steven hoped against all hope that it would open, but when he tried, all that happened were angry squeaks.

Rina tsked, and sat closer to Steven, pulling his hand off the mouse.

"Don't hurt it, it's already unconf'table. You'll only make it worse, treatin' it like that."

Rina untransfigured the mouse, scooped it up, and started petting it.

"Your mouse has got to be willing to change in the first place, see? This one's right riled up, you'll never get it to do nothin'."

Rina took her quill and transfigured it into a gray mouse.

"'Ere. This one'll be much easier."

Steven held out his wand.

"Hold on a moment, let me look at your notes. What're you thinking of while you're castin' this?"

Steven handed over his notes. Rina looked over them for a moment, then shook her head.

"Nah, you've got it wrong, see?" She reached for her quill, then realised she'd turned it into the mouse. Steven grabbed one out of his own bag and handed it over.

"Thanks. Now, 'ere's what you got wrong."

Rina made some changes on Steven's notes, straightened his wand arm, gave him some extra pointers, and within five minutes, Steven had turned Rina's gray mouse into a perfectly functioning matchbox.

"Nice one!" Rina cheered.

Steven swelled with pride. "Thanks! I've been trying to figure that out for weeks."

"It's nuffin. Now change it back and try again."

The next week, Steven walked out of the Transfiguration exam with his head held high. He had turned his mouse into a perfect matchbox, complete with label. He was so proud of himself that he didn't see Professor Slughorn coming around the corner, and walked right into him.

"Oh, Professor sir, I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there."

Steven took a good look at Professor Slughorn. He had circles underneath his red eyes, and he seemed less jolly than usual.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing my boy, nothing at all. My fault."

"Professor, are you alright? You look tired."

"Hm? No, not at all son, not at all." Professor Slughorn waved his hand as if to scare off a fly. "Just end of term fatigue, you know."

Steven shrugged. "I guess… Well, have a good holiday Professor." He started to walk off.

"Holidays… Oh yes, Steven, I've just remembered that I had a quick question for you."

Steven turned back to Professor Slughorn.

"Do you still spend time with Mr. Riddle?"

"Yes sir, sometimes."

"Wonderful boy. Just wonderful. I was just thinking," Slughorn put his arm around Steven's shoulder, "I believe Mr. Riddle is staying at school for the holidays. He has no family to speak of. I wish I could offer him a place to stay. But of course, I couldn't. As a professor I'll be here over the holidays, and be of no use whatsoever. But if you're willing, I thought maybe…"

Steven didn't owe Slughorn any favors, after the whole Slug Club fiasco. But it might be good to patch things up with Tom. And Steven would really love to introduce Tom to his family. He felt like Tom needed some little sisters in his life.

"Of course, Professor. I'll invite him to come home with me. Although I can't promise he'll say yes."

"Fantastic! Fantastic, I'm so relieved. That is to say, he's been so lonely and quiet lately, it will to him some good to be around a good family."

Steven smiled. "Yeah, that will be good."

"Well, I must get to the Great Hall. Potions exams, you know." Slughorn patted Steven on the back and headed off.

Steven headed back to his common room lost in thought. Slughorn had said he had a good family. But… he knew that Steven was a Muggle-born. On the other hand he had also let Walberga stay in his club because she came from a 'good family'. What did that even mean, to have a 'good family'? Did it mean family with nice parents that loved you, or a family that had a name with a long magical history, like the Blacks? And what about people like Tom, who may have had important magical lineage, like Sylvia said, but didn't even know who his parents were? Did he have a 'good family'? If Tom's family was good, why would they leave him all alone? Steven shook his head, trying not to think about it anymore.

He opened the door to his common room, and saw Rina sitting at a desk. He smiled and headed over to her.

"Hey Rina, thanks so much for helping me with Transfiguration last week! I totally aced the exam! I even got the label on there."

Rina glanced up from her essay. "Ex'lent! She open and everything?"

"Yep, and-"

"Grand." She went back to her essay. "Sorry, this is nearly done."

Steven waited for her to finish, bouncing on his toes.

"And… done. Bloody Muggle Studies… This is due tonight, started it a fortnight ago. Couldn't get enough to fill a bleedin' bit of parchment…"

"There were even working matches inside!"

"That's just grand, Steve."

"And now, I can just wait for the holidays." Steven flopped onto the couch. "No more homework or anything… I can't wait to go home, and see our Christmas tree, and eat my Mum's pie… Not that the Hogwarts pies aren't amazing, but you know... "

"Yeah. That'll be nice for you, won't it?" Rina rolled up her essay and put her book bag over her shoulder. "I better turn this in before Professor McCoy gets his knickers in a twist." She headed out the door and waved over her shoulder.

Steven went upstairs to his dormitory, a little confused at Rina leaving so quickly. It was only after he had put on his pajamas and got into bed that he remembered that Rina and her mum were not on good terms. She probably wasn't going home at all for the holidays. His eyes shot open and he gripped his sheets. He had been so terribly rude, talking about his mum's pies when Rina probably wouldn't get any pie if she was going home at all. Rina didn't have a good family in any sense of the word. Maybe he should ask her to spend the holidays with him instead of Tom.

Steven pulled the sheets over his head. He wouldn't be getting a lot of sleep tonight.


	19. Chapter 19

The next morning, Steven sat nervously in the common room waiting for Rina to come downstairs. When she finally did, he stood up too quickly and all the blood rushed to his head. He was a little woozy from lack of sleep.

Rina saw him and headed over, stretching. "Wotcha, Steve. What you doin' up at this hour? It's five in the morning."

Steven paused. He hadn't realized it was that early. "I.. I could ask you the same thing."

Rina shrugged. "Mornin's the best time-a day. Might as well stretch it a bit longer. No one to bother you, ya know…"

"Right. I actually have a question for you. That's why I'm up so early. Do you have plans for Christmas?"

"Plans for Christmas? I'll 'ave the whole bleedin' castle to meself, won't I? No limits of what to do."

"I guess not… I was actually wondering if you'd like to stay with me and my family for the holidays."

Rina snorted out a laugh. "Ha! With you? We're not that close, love." She started heading to the common room door, then paused. "That's awfully nice of you to offer though. No one's ever asked me over before."

Steven took a step closer to her. "Why don't you come then?"

Rina shrugged. "Got my own things to do, don't I? Later, Steve."

She saluted at Steven and headed out the door. Steven sank back down onto the couch, his legs and eyelids heavy. He was exhausted. After a few minutes on the couch, he drug himself back up the stairs to his dormitory and flopped onto the bed, asleep before he hit the pillow.

After Steven woke up from a long nap, he headed down to the Great Hall. He had slept through breakfast, and lunch was underway, with students drifting in and out in between exams. Steven had finished his last one yesterday, but some students still had exams scheduled for the next two days. He took a seat and was just piling a sandwich high with tomatoes and salami when he saw Tom across the room. Steven immediately picked up his plate and headed over to sit with him. He stood behind Tom and cleared his throat suggestively. Tom glanced behind him.

"Hi Tom. I was just wondering… could I sit with you?"

"Of course." Tom shifted over to make a space for Steven.

"Thanks." Steven sat down a little awkwardly, then they both started eating their lunch in silence.

"I… I feel like I should say sorry, Tom. Things have been really busy, and I haven't seen you very much lately."

Tom waved his hand. "It's nothing. I'm the one at fault for being distant. Also, I wanted to speak with you anyway. I feel I need to apologize for that business with Miss Black on the Owlery staircase."

"Oh. That." Steven fidgeted with his napkin.

"I know that she has no love for you, or Muggle-borns generally. It's a bit of a trait of Slytherin house. You mustn't take it personally."

"Hm. It feels personal though."

"Speaking of Miss Black though, after that… situation, she's started complaining that she can never find matches for her socks. I don't know why it perturbs her so much. She's saying that Mudbloods are stealing her socks, which is absolutely ridiculous."

Steven gave a small smile. "Maybe it's karma. The universe could be getting back at her for being nasty to people."

They both gave a small chuckle, and went back to their lunch.

"So… what were you doing with Walburga?" asked Steven.

Tom shrugged. "Oh, you know, we're in the same house. We run into each other sometimes."

Steven nodded. He listened to the giant fireplace across from them crackle.

"I actually did have a question for you, Tom."

Tom looked up and raised his eyebrows.

"I wondered if you'd like to come with me for the holidays. You know, spend Christmas with my family. If you don't have any other plans."

Steven took a big bite of his sandwich while Tom pondered the offer.

"Well, it is true that I don't have anywhere else to go." Tom picked some crumbs off the table. "Why not? Yes, I'll come with you. If that's quite alright with your parents."

"I'll send them a letter right now!" Steven dashed out of the Great Hall to start writing, and almost ran into Walburga, who was complaining to her friend about the cold shower she'd had that morning. Steven took a small guilty pleasure in her unpleasant morning and headed down to the dungeons.

On his way to the Hufflepuff common room, he stopped by the kitchens to say goodbye to the house elves for the holidays. They were as excited to see him as always, and showed him a small tree that they had set up. Nibbs brought his wife and son out to say hello; his son had made a full recovery and showed Steven all the pictures he had drawn in the last week. Some of them were actually really impressive, it looked like Tibbs had spent a lot of time on them. Steven told Tibbs that he he could grow up to be a great artist someday, and Nibbs glowed with pride.

"The first house elf artist that all wizards would be knowing!" smiled his mother.

Steven thought for a moment. "Are there not any famous house elf artists?"

Nibbs laughed. "Not by wizards there isn't! But sometimes-"

One of the older house elves stepped on Nibb's foot, and raised an eyebrow suggestively, but it was too late.

"Sometimes," a different house elf chimed in, "we makes our own fun!"

Another house elf ran into a small hallway, and came back with a painting as large as itself.

"It's not much…" the house elf said, "but Knobs made this his-self."

It was a beautiful landscape painting of Hogwarts at sunset.

"And this-" said another house elf, pulling out another, "is Polly's."

A caricature of Walberga Black done in a fancy portrait style made Steven snort with laughter and cover his mouth. The nose was huge, and she had tiny eyes on a head that was too big for her body.

Polly piped up. "Polly painted Miss Black that way because Miss Black's head is full of hot air."

Steven couldn't hold in his laughter and let out a huge guffaw. He fell off his chair he was laughing so hard, and had to take a few minutes to contain himself.

"Speaking of Walberga," said Steven between giggles, wiping a tear from his eye, "is that you who have been taking all the matches to her socks?"

Some of the house elves smiled knowingly.

"Master Steven, we don't know nothing about missing socks!" one said, with over-innocent wide eyes.

"What about cold showers?"

Nipsy piped up. "That was the whole castle, sir. 'Twas a cold morning, it was."

The other house elves nodded seriously.

"Well, if any of you are doing anything sneaky or mean to Miss Black, you really shouldn't. She's a person just like any of us."

"But a mean person!"

"Nasty!"

"Unfair to all!"

Steven tried to interject. "Yes, yes I know. But-"

"She's been waited on hand and foot-"

"-spoiled rotten-"

"-the most ungrateful-"

"It's not right-"

"Everyone! Quiet down!" cried Steven.

The room fell silent.

"I know that she's mean, and nasty, and all those things. But if we are mean and nasty to her, we become just as nasty. It might make us happy for a minute, but it does nothing to change anything."

The house elves were quiet.

"But then, Master Steven, how does we change things?"

Steven was quiet. "I… I don't know."

The room was quiet again. Then the old house elf with droopy ears beckoned Steven over. He had never talked to Steven before.

"Master Steven," he said in a quaky voice, "does you know how house elves came to be?"

Steven shook his head. The old house elf motioned for him to sit down with a walking stick, and all the other house elves whispered and sat down as well.

"In the beginning," the old elf began, "house elves were not house elves at all. We was a tribe of sprites, in wizard language. We was happy, and lived with a Snallygaster. The big strong snallygaster would bring us food, while we would help with what she needed. We was just little sprites, and it would have been silly for us to just wander about, what with the wampus and hidebehinds and all-"

"Wampus? So wait, you're from America?"

The old elf banged his walking stick, and said nothing.

Steven winced. "Sorry. Please tell more of the story."

"As I be saying, it would be silly to wander, what with the wampus and hidebehinds and all. So the snallygaster wandered for us, and we helped baby snallygasters grow. We was very happy." The old elf took a deep breath. "But then one day, our snallygaster didn't come back. We wanted to find her, even with the wampus and hidebehinds and all out there. We followed her tracks, then we found the blood." He gulped. "And then we followed the dragging marks. The marks took us to big wooden walls with a big wooden door. And so we banged on the door, crying, 'Please, please give us our snallygaster! She has seven babies at home who are all crying for her!' We cried all the night. And then the doors opened, and we saw our beautiful snallygaster… She… she had her heart cut out, and her skin was gone. We fell down on our knees, and cried some more. Our snallygaster was gone…'

'The humans that opened the doors were wizards. They had wands. They said that snallygasters were very valuable and wanted us to tell us where her seven babies be. But we see what they did to our snallygaster and we wouldn't tell. The wizards grabbed our necks, and held us up, and said they would kill us all if we didn't tell. But then, Teimh, the cleverest and kindest of us, had an idea. Teimh knew we could not offer the sweet snallygasters for our lives, but we could be giving our lives for our lives. She offered to the wizards our lives instead of the snallygasters. That is saying, that we and our children and our children's children would forever serve the wizards if they would kill no more snallygasters. The wizards be seeing how many of us there be, and see that it maybe be a better idea to have help for free than dead snallygasters. So all us elves made a vow with the wizards, an Unbreakable Promise, that we would serve the wizards and do whatever they ask unless they be giving us a token saying we can go. Those wizards did make a Vow too, not to kill any more snallygasters. So they take us away, bring us to other wizards, and soon we all be living in houses with wizards.'

'And that," ended the old house elf as he stood up, "is why things must not be changing. If things be changing, we be dying. Can't be breaking the Unbreakable Promise. Everything is not so very happy, but we and our snallygaster babies be alive."

The room was quiet. Many of the house elves were crying over the story of the snallygaster. Some were nodding in approval.

"Besides," he continued, "things not so bad for Hogwarts elves. We be happy here, with house elf families, and paintings, and Christmas trees. There be nasty and mean wizards everywhere. But we made a promise. And there's no breaking of promises."


	20. Chapter 20

The last day of term, Steven pulled his trunk along the length of the train, looking for Tom. He saw him waiting under a tree with a small trunk packed for the few weeks he'd be gone. Steven waved at him, and Tom smiled and waved back. Together they stowed their trunks in a compartment and sat down. The train was full; almost everyone was going home for the holidays. A couple of people waved at friends who were staying at Hogwarts over the break. Steven bounced excitedly in his seat, excited for the train to leave. Tom sat quietly with his hands folded and watched Steven's nervous excitement with a curious eye. The train pulled out of the Hogsmeade station, and Tom and Steven watched as the snow capped trees drug themselves slowly across the window and then sped up as the Hogwarts castle started shrinking into the distance.

"It feels like it's all been a dream…" said Steven. "Like I'll wake up tomorrow and be going to public school again."

Tom nodded, and was quiet as he gazed out the window, lost in thought.

"Do you have anyone you'd want to see for the holidays? We may be able to-"

"No." interrupted Tom. Then realizing he had spoken rather harshly, "No, I don't have anyone. Thank you."

Steven nodded, and started bouncing his foot, feeling a little awkward.

"What… What is your family like?" asked Tom.

Steven smiled. "Oh you'll love them! I'm so glad you get to meet them. My mum is super sweet, she gives the best hugs. She also makes the best christmas pies, I'm so excited for you to try them. My dad isn't around much, but he'll be there for christmas of course. He's a bit standoffish, a bit quiet. And then there's Krissy, and Jamie, and Janet. Krissy loves our cat. She'll try and bring the cat to bed with her, and then of course, the cat will run away, and so she'll make a little fort for it at the end of the bed with water and treats and things. Then she'll fall asleep waiting for the cat to come to its castle, and end up with water and cat treats all over the bed. She's eight. And then there's Jamie, she loves to cook, she takes after my mum. They'll make pies and cookies and things all the time, she is six. Janet is the littlest, she's only three. Or is she four now? I forget. But she's so funny, she's always pretending she can do crazy things, like fly or disappear… but I guess those aren't such crazy things, since we're learning how to do all those things now at Hogwarts…"

Tom shrugged. "For Muggles, those are crazy things I suppose."

"Yes, but now we can do them! I can't wait to show-"

"You can't show your magic to Muggles, Steven. It's against the law. You could be expelled."

Steven's heart sank. "Oh… I didn't know."

"That's alright, I had to do some research on it myself. It really should be made more clear what we are allowed to do and not to do."

Steven nodded, even though he didn't understand. "Why can't we show our parents?"

"Supposedly it's to keep us safe. Muggles aren't like us, they get scared when they come across anything unfamiliar. And when an animal is scared, it bites. Have you ever heard of a witch hunt?"

Steven shook his head.

"In America, people used to be so scared of witches that when they would find one, they would burn them at the stake. It happened all over Britain too, in medieval times. There's more of them than there are of us, so they feel like they can crush us because they are bigger and stronger." Tom's fists clenched. "They think that we're nothing, when really we're the ones with power."

Steven was quiet. He hadn't seen Tom this mad since… well, since that night in the corridor.

"Well… maybe things will change. Maybe people will realize that there's nothing to be scared of. Then they won't hurt people who are different."

Tom was quiet, and went back to staring tensely out the window.

"Do you… Tom, do you think I'll ever be able to show my mum my magic? Or do I just have to never do magic in front of her, ever?"

Tom gave a tense shrug.

"Because… I know that she wouldn't burn me at the stake. My whole family would never do anything to hurt me. If they wouldn't hurt me, or anyone else who was magical, it should be okay, right?"

Tom was quiet for a moment. "You don't know what people would or wouldn't do. When people have power, they can always use it to hurt."

They fell into a contemplative silence, when the food trolley came by. Steven jumped up to buy some cauldron cakes for the road.

Even Tom's dreary mood didn't completely stifle Steven's excitement to see his family. As they pulled up to King's Cross station, he stuck his head out the window into the cold air to see if he could see them. If he squinted, he thought he could see them coming closer and closer… and then there they were, all three of the girls bouncing up and down and waving at the train. Steven stuck his hand out and waved back, then ducked back in to get his trunk out from above his seat. He had been a little worried that his family wouldn't be able to get onto the platform, since they didn't have a wizard with them. But here they were!

"C'mon, Tom! They're waiting for us! See them? They are right over there." Steven pointed.

"The train hasn't even stopped yet." said Tom.

"It will soon though! I'm so excited!" Steven bounced in his chair. "I feel like I haven't seen them in forever!"

As the train squealed to a stop, Steven was out of his seat and waiting at the doors before they even opened. He hardly paid any attention to Tom, who was taking too long. The doors slowly glided open, and Steven ran over to his family as fast as he could, almost tripping over his trunk as he dropped it. He jumped into his mother's open arms.

"Mum! I'm so happy to see you!"

The girls clustered around him, trying to get a hug in. Then Jamie ran to grab his trunk, and Janet snagged his wand from his robes.

"Steven, this is so heavy!"

"Ooo, what's this?"

"We missed you so much!"

Steven tried to take his wand back from Janet while still hugging his mother.

"I need that - I missed you all too, it's so good to see you again!"

"Your father is still at work, you'll see him tonight." smiled his mother.

Steven nodded, then remembered Tom. He looked around, and saw Tom walking towards them from the train.

"Mum, this is Tom. He's my friend from school."

Steven's mum offered her hand. "Pleased to meet you, Tom. Steven's told me a lot about you."

Tom took her hand and shook it. "Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Egbert."

She gave him a warm smile, and Krissy inspected Steven and Tom's robes.

"So… you wear dresses at your new school?"

Steven laughed. "No, these are wizard robes."

Krissy raised an eyebrow. "Right… Robes…"

"Do you wear pants under them?" asked Jamie, picking up the hem of Steven's robes.

"Jamie! Put that down!" scolded Steven's mum.

"Yes, of course we wear pants under them. In fact, we should probably take these off before we go back into the Muggle world." Steven started shrugging off his robes. "I have normal clothes underneath, Mum."

His mother breathed a sigh of relief.

"Muggle world?" asked Jamie.

"Oh, sorry, non-magic world. It's just the word wizards use for people who aren't magical."

"Hm. Sounds rude." commented Krissy.

Steven rolled his eyes and smiled. He had missed all of them. He finished adjusting his street clothes, closed up the lid of his trunk, and checked to see if Tom was ready. Tom was also putting his robes away, keeping his white button up shirt and dress slacks on. Tom nodded at Steven.

"Okay, let's go." said Steven, walking towards the gateway back to the non-magical world.

Steven's mum put a hand on his shoulder. "Your friend is quiet." she whispered. "Do you think he might be a little uncomfortable?"

Steven looked behind him and watched Janet try to hold Tom's hand. Tom was trying to pull his hand away subtly, but Janet thought it was a game, and kept trying to catch it.

Steven shrugged. "Maybe. He doesn't have his own family to bother him like Janet does."

"How do we treat a guest who's uncomfortable?" she asked.

"Make them feel welcome…" Steven answered sheepishly. "Could you take my trunk?"

His mother smiled and nodded, taking the handle of his trunk. Steven ran over to Janet and scooped her up, saving Tom from any more possible embarrassment. Steven tickled Janet until she giggled a "put me down!" and then ran off to their mother.

"Sorry about Janet." Steven said to Tom. "I told you that she can be silly."

"It's alright." Tom said quietly. "I just haven't had much experience with young children."

"You lived in an orphanage and didn't play with little kids?"

"No. They tended to avoid me."

"Oh." Steven fell silent. "Well, you might get some practice while you're here. Janet can be relentlessly friendly."

Steven sped up to catch up to the rest of his family, and motioned for Tom to come with him. Tom reluctantly caught up with them and smiled as they all walked through the barrier together.


	21. Chapter 21

Pulling up to the house, Steven could barely contain his excitement. There was snow on the ground, and the house was lit up.

"It looks like your father got home early." Steven's mother smiled. "Let's not keep him waiting."

The girls jumped out of the car as soon as it pulled to a stop.

"Daddy!"

"Last one inside's an icicle!"

"Aw, there's snow in my boots!"

Steven chuckled to himself as he opened the trunk to get out his and Tom's luggage. He hadn't realized how much he had missed everyone. Steven's mum came to help them pull out their trunks.

"These are heavy, Steven. Did you bring home all your books?"

"Well, not all of them. I brought some candy…" Steven looked at Tom, worried. "Tom, do you think every-flavor beans are okay?"

Tom shrugged, pulling his trunk towards the house.

Steven gave his mum a half smile. "I brought some magical candies to share, if that's okay."

"Of course! The girls will be so excited."

They brought the trunks up the lane to the front door. Steven's family lived in a suburb of London where all the houses were connected to each other and all looked the same. But the familiar rosebush under the window set Steven's house apart from all the others. He could see the christmas tree through the front window, and felt a rush of excitement mixed with a bit of regret that he hadn't been there to help decorate it. Steven's mum opened the door, and Tom and Steven pulled their trunks through the door. Steven turned to see the girls jumping on their father, who was sitting stiffly at the kitchen table, still in his suit from work. When he saw them, he immediately stood up.

"Margaret." That was weird. Steven's father never called his mum by her full name. "Margaret, I need to speak with you. Alone."

"Oh Jack, can't it wait a moment? Steven's friend from school is here visiting us."

Steven's father held out his hand to Tom. "How do you do?"

Tom took it. "Quite well sir. Please don't be put out on my account."

Tom released his hand, eyes flicking between each of the adults. Steven could feel the it too. The tension between them was tight as a fiddle string.

"See? The boy doesn't mind, do you son?"

Tom slowly shook his head. Steven's father took his mother's arm, and lead her into the other room. He had hardly glanced at Steven.

"What do you suppose that's about?" Steven asked Tom.

Tom shook his head again. "I haven't the faintest idea."

Steven felt a tugging on his arm. He looked down to see Jamie tugging on his shirt sleeve.

"C'mon Steven, come look at all the presents!" Jamie pulled Steven towards the christmas tree.

Steven shrugged at Tom. "Duty calls."

He pasted a smile on and headed back towards the tree. Krissy had opened his trunk and was inspecting all of his belongings.

"Hey nosy, back off!" Steven knelt down and tried to close his trunk, but Krissy held it open.

"What're these?" she asked, holding up a galleon and a knut.

"They're wizard money."

"It looks like you stole them from a pirate chest."

"Do you have a pointy wizard hat?" asked Janet, bouncing over.

"Yes, I do actually." Steven pulled out a black pointy hat and put it on.

Janet giggled. "You look silly!"

"Well, we only wear them on special occasions."

"Does he have one?" Janet asked, pointing at Tom.

"Erm… yes?" replied Tom, clutching the handle of his trunk a little tighter.

"I wanna see!" Janet ran over to Tom, and Steven saw him tense up.

"Guys!" whined Jamie, saving the day. "We have to show Steven the presents, remember?"

"Oh yeah!" Janet ran over to the tree, and Tom relaxed. "We got your friend a present too!"

"You… you did?" Tom asked, sounding confused.

"It's long," said Janet, pulling out a long box and shaking it, "and it has rattly bits in it. We've been trying to figure out what it is, but nobody knows."

"Maybe it's a chess set!" said Jamie.

Krissy rolled her eyes and went back to inspecting Steven's trunk. She pulled out Steven's wand. "What's this? A fancy stick?"

"That is my wand, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't play with it." Steven grabbed his wand out of Krissy's hand.

"Hm. Looks like a normal stick that someone's whittled down into a fancy shape."

Steven felt a little defensive of his wand. "It is not a normal stick. This is a beautiful willow wand with a unicorn hair core. Mr. Ollivander told me so."

Krissy raised her eyebrows cynically. "Unicorn hair?"

Janet dropped the present she was looking at. "Ooo, I want to see the unicorn hair!"

"You can't see the unicorn hair, it's inside the wand."

"Can we break it open and see it?"

Steven clutched his wand to his chest. "You can't break this! This is a magic wand, it's the only one you get."

"If it's magic, then do some magic with it." Krissy folded her arms expectantly.

Jamie looked up from the presents, interested.

Steven looked around at his sisters, worried. "I… I'm not allowed to. I can only do magic at school."

"If you can only do it at school, then what's the point of it?" Krissy sniffed.

Steven was quiet. He really did want to show them something, even if it was something as simple as _lumos._ As he thought, Janet snatched the wand out of his hand.

"I want to do magic!" She ran across the room with his wand, pointing it at a lamp. "Abra cadabra, turn into a cat!"

Jamie ran over to Janet and yanked the wand out of her sister's hands just as Steven jumped to his feet.

"You can't just grab other people's things, Janet!" Jamie said. As she spoke, orange sparks burst out of the wand tip, then disappeared.

Janet's eyes widened, and Krissy's jaw dropped. Jamie, Steven, and Tom stood frozen, staring at the wand.

"Are… are you a wizard too?" Janet asked.

Jamie dropped the wand and Steven ran to pick it up. He cradled it back to his trunk and stowed it away. He had always thought that if there was another witch or wizard in the family, it would be Janet. But Jamie?

Just then, Steven's mother walked into the room, her face pale and lips tight.

"Mama! Did you see what Jamie just did?" Janet asked, jumping in front of their mother.

Their mother shook her head, and sank down onto a couch.

"Not now, dear." she whispered.

"Is something wrong, mum?" Steven asked.

Their father walked stiffly into the room and their mother looked up at him.

"We have to talk about this with everyone, Jack." Steven's mum looked at Tom. "I'm sorry you have to be here right now, Tom."

Tom awkwardly shuffled from foot to foot.

"I can go…" he motioned to the front door.

"No no, it's quite alright, son." said Steven's father. He took a deep breath, and licked his lips, as if trying to find a way to put this delicately. "I'm… I'm afraid I have some bad news for everyone. I've come home from work early today because… well, because they don't want me to work there anymore."

The room was silent.

"So… Daddy lost his job?" asked Krissy.

Their mother nodded. "It's happening everywhere, dear. It's all very complicated, but there just isn't a lot of money to go around right now."

Their father cleared his throat. "We don't have a lot of money ourselves, in fact. We all will need to make some sacrifices, or some changes. We might have to move, or change schools. I'll do what I can to find more work, but things look pretty bleak, I'm afraid."

Steven mind spun. Change schools? Did that mean he wouldn't be able to go to Hogwarts anymore? And what about Jamie? If she was a witch and couldn't go to school, would she just never be able to use magic? And if Steven didn't go to school, did that mean he could use what he'd learned, or was his whole time at Hogwarts a waste? He had known that all of this had been too good to be true. It really may have all been a dream for all it mattered.

"Will we still have Christmas?" asked Janet.

Their mother smiled. "Yes, we are still having Christmas."

"It may be our last extravagant Christmas for a while, but everything is already bought and paid for. So we had better enjoy it." Their father looked sternly at each of his children, who all nodded. Then a twinkle shone in his eye. "Besides, we can't just call up Santa Claus and tell him not to come."


	22. Chapter 22

That night, Steven laid on the floor while Tom laid in his bed. Steven couldn't sleep. His brain kept spinning around, thinking about his dad getting laid off, but also excited for Christmas. He stared out at the moon shining through the window.

"Hey Tom. You awake?"

There was a pause. "Yes."

Steven flipped over in his nest of blankets. "What do you think? About my family?"

Another pause. "They're nice."

"Nice?"

"Yes. They all seem to really care about each other. They're nice to each other."

"Yeah, they are. I like them."

Tom was quiet again.

"Do you think Dumbledore will make me leave Hogwarts, since my dad got fired?" Steven asked.

Tom lifted himself up on his elbow. "You know that not just rich families send their children to Hogwarts, right? I don't have a family, or any money to speak of. But I'm still going."

Steven shifted. He hadn't thought of that before.

"When Professor Dumbledore told me about Hogwarts, he said that all my needs would be provided for. That there was money in place for room and board year round, even when school isn't in session. I'm sure if you tell him that your father isn't employed, he'd offer you the same."

Steven nodded. That seemed obvious, now that he thought about it.

"So… You're not going back to… where you're from? Even when school is out?"

"No. I'm never going back to that place." said Tom, with a bite in his voice.

Steven opened his mouth to say something, then thought better of it. They both fell silent.

"I should be grateful to Dumbledore." said Tom. "That's what everyone at the orphanage said when I left. I should be grateful to anyone who would take someone like me away from there. I just… I just wish I could change the way he looks at me. He's always looking down on me, like I'm some bad dog that could bite anyone at any time." Tom paused. "I hate it."

Steven fiddled with a piece of string on one of the blankets. "I don't think he should judge people like that. Maybe you can help him see that you can do great things. Because… well, I think you're brilliant."

Tom paused. "Thanks… I guess."

They fell into an awkward silence. Steven flipped his pillow over.

"You seem… happier here." said Tom. "Why is that?"

Steven smiled. "I'm happier… because I love my family. And they love me. And… I know that whatever happens, they'll always love me."

Tom was quiet for a minute. "I see."

"Just sometimes, in Hogwarts, I feel like everyone is out for themselves. Like, we have friends, and great professors and everything, but everyone has something they're trying to do. Here at home… I can just be. I don't have to do anything to feel like I'm important. I don't have to be cool, or smart, or brave. I can just exist. I don't have to prove anything. You know?"

Tom didn't respond. Maybe he had fallen asleep. Steven rolled into his blanket nest, and was almost asleep when he heard Tom say something.

"What was that?" asked Steven.

"I said, if someone doesn't have a family… where do they… nevermind. It's stupid. Forget I said anything."

Steven was quiet. It hadn't sounded stupid to him.

"Tom-"

"I said forget it."

Steven heard Tom pull the covers over himself.

Christmas morning, Steven woke up without knowing what time it was. He peered up at Tom, who was still asleep. Steven pulled his alarm clock from his bedside table. 4:37. He smiled, bleary eyed and full of excitement. Christmas!

Steven quietly pushed his blankets off and crept to the bedroom door. He opened it as silently as he could, and headed to the landing. He looked through the banister… and there it was. The Christmas tree in all its glory. Streetlights outside shone through the window and glistened off of the ornaments and tinsel draped all over the tree. Presents were piled underneath, and Steve was tempted to go down and look closer, just to see-

"Can you see anything?" came a loud whisper from behind him.

Steven nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Jamie! You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Jamie grinned and shrugged. "I couldn't sleep. I just wanted to look."

"Me too."

They both silently stared at the Christmas tree, brimming with quiet excitement.

"So…" said Steven. "You're a witch now. That's pretty neat!"

The excitement in Jamie's eyes faded slightly. "Yeah. I guess."

Steven's eyebrows furrowed. "Are you not excited?"

Jamie started fidgeting with the carpet. "I… I don't know. Hogwarts sounds cool. I just… like things the way they are. That's all."

"Oh."

"I'd miss my friends."

Steven nodded. "Yeah, I know. But you'll make lots of new friends. And you wouldn't leave for a long time anyway."

Jamie smiled. "Yeah." She paused. "Your friend is funny."

Steven smilied. "He is funny."

"He's quiet."

Steven nodded. They stared down at the Christmas tree together.

"Do you have lots of friends?" asked Jamie.

"Well… I think so."

"You think so?"

Steven licked his lips. "Sometimes… I don't know if they really like me. My friends, I mean."

"Why not?"

"Well, like Tom. Sometimes I just feel like he's watching me. Like how people take apart a machine just to see how it works. You're not really friends with the machine, you just think it's interesting. But, I want to be friends with him. He's really cool. And I want to be cool like that."

"But… I think you're cool. You don't have to be friends with someone who makes you feel sad just to be cool. You don't have to be like them either. You just have to be yourself." Jamie smiled at Steven.

The two of them looked back down at the Christmas tree, content in being together.

Steven and Jamie eventually went back to bed. They couldn't wait on the steps until seven in the morning, when their parents would light the fireplace. When Steven did wake up again, it was to Janet jostling him awake.

"6:49! Wake up time! C'mon, get up get up get up!" She ran out of the room, yelling- "IT'S CHRISTMAS!"

Tom sat up squinting, hair sticking out in four different directions.

"Huh? What is it?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

Steven jumped up. He was nearly as excited as Janet.

"It's Christmas! C'mon Tom!"

He took Tom's arm and pulled him out of bed. Tom stumbled to the doorway.

"Why… why are we awake?"

"Christmas presents!"

Steven pulled Tom to the landing. The tree was even more beautiful now that the firelight was making the tinsel sparkle. Tom blinked his eyes open, and they grew wide at the sight of the tree.

"Woah."

Steven pulled Tom down the stairs, and sat him down on the couch facing the fireplace. The three girls were already bouncing in their seats, anxious and excited. Seven stockings were hung on the mantelpiece, full of treats. Steven heard a rustling under the tree, and looked over to see Janet pulling a long box from under the tree.

"Tom! This one's for you!" She handed him the box, and dove under the tree for another.

"Janet! You can't hand out presents until Daddy's here, you know that!" Jamie whispered angrily.

Tom was already ripping off the paper of his present. Steven looked down to see him unwrap a board game. The word _SORRY!_ was written across the front.

"Is this… a game?" Tom asked, confused.

Krissy looked over and smiled. "It's a new board game that we thought looked really neat. Mum thought you might like it."

"That's… Thank you." said Tom quietly.

Steven's father's footsteps clomped down the stairs.

"I see you couldn't wait any longer." he smiled.

Jamie pointed at Janet. "She started passing out presents."

Steven's mother followed close behind his father.

"She's just excited. Let's go ahead and start opening. You can get your stockings first if you like."

The girls cheered and ran to get their stockings. Steven got up and grabbed his and Tom's stockings. He handed it to Tom, who was still looking at his board game. Tom looked up and gave Steven a genuine smile. Steven smiled back.

After the family opened presents and had a couple hours to recover from the excitement of new toys, Steven felt it was time to break out the wizard candy. Steven gathered the girls around and passed out the chocolate frogs he had brought. Janet opened hers, and squealed with delight as the frog jumped out of her hands.

"These aren't real frogs, are they?" asked Krissy.

"It's just a spell." Steven answered. "They're just regular chocolate." He broke off a leg and took a bite out of it. "It stops moving once you bite into it."

Jamie looked at it skeptically, then took a small nibble off a leg. Her face brightened.

"I told you." Steven smiled. "These are my favorites. I brought some other things to try though."

Steven dug through his bag and pulled out a small box. "Here. Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans."

"Jelly beans!" Janet stuck a hand in and grabbed a small handful of jelly beans, stuffing them in her mouth.

"Wait-" Steven held up his hand, but it was too late.

Janet's eyes opened wide and she stuck out her tongue, slimy jelly beans falling out of her mouth.

"Blech!" she scraped at her tongue. "These aren't jelly beans! They taste like- like-"

"Everything?" Steven asked. "That's why they're EVERY flavor beans. They have all kinds of flavors. You have to be brave to taste just one of those."

"Now you have to eat all the ones you spit out." Jamie scolded. "That's good candy."

"But- but they taste like dirt, and liver, and grass, and hot dogs, and candy canes all at the same time!"

Krissy picked up a butter colored bean, looking it up and down. "I'll try just one. It shouldn't be too bad." She popped it in her mouth, and her face scrunched up.

"Yuch! Who makes a popcorn flavored jelly bean?"

"The popcorn ones aren't that bad. You're lucky!" said Steven, popping a blue jelly bean in his mouth. "I got a pine cone flavored one my first time. It was even a little bit crunchy, like a pine cone." Steven turned to Tom. "What was your first bean flavor?"

Tom turned a little pink. "Oh, no, I couldn't say… I don't remember."

"Everyone remembers their first every flavor bean." Steven smiled at Tom. "You can tell us."

Janet was slowly eating the beans she had spit out, but seemed to be enjoying them more now that she wasn't eating twenty at once.

"I… I haven't had one yet." said Tom, watching Janet.

Steven gasped. "What?! You have to have at least one!" He thrust the box at Tom. "Take one!"

Tom threw up his hands. "No- no thank you, I'm quite alright-"

"You scared?" Krissy grinned.

Tom drew himself up, bristling. "Scared?! I'm not scared of a jelly bean!"

"Prove it."

Tom stuck his hand in the box, glaring at Krissy. Steven felt his hand rummage around in the box for a moment and pull out an orange colored bean. He stuck it in his mouth and chewed. He screwed up his face.

"Blech!" Tom stuck his tongue out.

"What kind is it?" asked Steven.

"Carrots! I hate carrots!"

Jamie and Janet laughed, and even Krissy cracked a smile.


	23. Chapter 23

Soon the Christmas break came to an end, and Steven and Tom again crossed the barrier to Platform 9 ¾. Tom went to find a compartment while Steven's mother straightened his jacket.

"I can't believe you're so grown up, Steven." she beamed. "It seems like only yesterday when I was sending you off to primary school for the first time."

Steven smiled. "I feel like that was forever ago."

"Well. You were much shorter then." she ruffled his hair, then tried to straighten it again. "And you're different in other ways too."

"How am I different?"

She thought for a moment. "You think about things a lot more than you used to. And I think you worry more than you need to about what other people think of you."

Steven fidgeted with a string in one of his pockets. "Isn't it important what your friends think?"

"It's not all that important I think. Good friends will love you and think good things about you even when you make mistakes." She finally got his hair back to the way it was. "There. Now I think you're ready to leave." She gave him a tight hug. "I'm sorry we didn't get to chat as much as I'd like. But I'll write you every day if you need me to."

Steven hadn't realized how much he had missed his mum until this very moment, when he was about to leave again. He squeezed her harder, his throat tight.

"I don't want to go. I want to stay here with you."

He remembered that first day of primary school, when he had said that same thing and wouldn't let go of his mum. The teacher had had to pry him away.

"I know dear. I know." She rocked him back and forth. "I'll see you soon."

The train whistled, and the spell was broken. Steven let go of his mum, gave a large sniff, and quickly hugged each of the girls. He picked up his trunk and headed to the train.

"I love you!" he called over his shoulder.

Steven climbed aboard the train, and just like that, they were gone.

Steven and Tom stared out the window at the Scottish countryside, each lost in his own thoughts. Steven was thinking about what his mum had said about friends caring about you even when you made mistakes. He thought about what he had seen in the dungeons that night, where Tom had been talking to the wall, and that terrifying voice that had made Steven's blood run cold. Steven felt like friends should be honest with each other, but he had been so scared of that voice. It had been weeks, and he still hadn't mentioned it to Tom. But the longer he held onto it, the more it burned and boiled inside him. He needed to tell Tom that he had seen him down there. Steven felt like Tom would still be his friend, but what if he wasn't? Was it better to keep his friend while lying to him? Or was it better to lose a friend but tell the truth?

Steven gritted his teeth. He had to do it.

"Tom." started Steven, "I need to tell you something."

Tom tore his gaze from the window and blinked as if coming out of a dream. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Do you remember that hallway that you and I and Sylvia found?"

"The one with the S? Yes, there was nothing down there. Didn't we tell you?"

Steven was confused. Tom knew that there was more down that hallway. Steven had seen him there. Tom was lying to him. Steven felt his hands clench. Friends don't lie to each other. But then, he had been lying to Tom this whole time by not telling him about seeing him in one of the rooms down there.

"Yeah, you did say that. But… Tom, a few weeks ago, I went down there by myself."

"You did?" Tom's eyes widened, surprised. "Did you find anything down there?"

"Yes." Steven gulped. "I… I found you."

Tom raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "You found me there? Come now, are you completely mad? Are you sure you weren't dreaming or something?"

Steven's blood was starting to boil. He let all his words out in a rush. "Tom. I know you were there. I saw you take the secret passage in the Great Hall and I was worried so I followed you. The hallway spirals down and starts glowing green and I heard you talking to the wall, and then I heard the wall talking back. And the voice made me so scared that I hid. And I saw you, and you were so angry, and I couldn't tell you."

Steven's eyes narrowed. "Even if you did see me, which is completely ridiculous, why would you tell me now?"

"Because friends don't lie." Steven was steaming mad. He had seen Tom. He was telling the truth, and Tom wouldn't even admit that he was there.

"I see." Tom looked back out the window.

Steven sat and fumed. He had expected Tom to either be mad, or to admit to it and forgive him. But Steven hadn't expected him to flat out deny it.

"Have you told anyone else this hairbrained story of yours?" Tom asked, still looking out the window.

Steven snorted. "Why should I tell you? You wouldn't believe me anyway." Steven turned away, putting his feet up on the seat next to him.

"Hm. Fair enough." Tom looked back at Steven with his black eyes, studying him in the way one would study a math problem to be solved. He leaned forward. "Let's say I was down there. Let's pretend for a moment that you weren't dreaming that I was there, and that you actually did see me. What would you plan on doing with that information?"

"Um…" Steven had no clue what Tom was getting at. "Could I do anything with it?"

Tom leaned back and waved a hand. "Nothing, of course. You don't have any proof, and anyway, all you would have seen was that I was in a different hallway than usual."

"But you were talking to something."

Tom stiffened imperceptibly. "Maybe I was, maybe I wasn't. That's not really for you to say, is it? Maybe I was just talking to myself. But, that's neither here nor there, since I was never there anyway. "

Tom's gaze hardened.

"Because you won't tell anyone, will you Steven?"

The words seemed to echo in Steven's head. Tom's eyes seemed to be peering into his soul, making Steven feel small and vulnerable.

"Because if you do tell anyone," continued Tom, "things won't end well for you."

Tom held Steven in his steely gaze for a whole minute, until the train started putting on its brakes. They were approaching Hogsmeade.

Tom stood up and gave Steven an unpleasant smile. "We'd better get ready to go. It was a pleasure to meet your family, Egbert."

Steven stayed frozen in his seat until Tom had pulled his trunk out the door of the compartment without a backwards glance.


	24. Chapter 24

With Tom gone, Steven started trembling. That had been the scariest thing anyone had ever said to him, including everything Walberga had ever done. One minute Tom had been his quiet friend, and the next… it was almost as if he had turned into a different person. One with frozen eyes and a razor sharp voice.

Someone's luggage crashed to the floor in the compartment next door and broke the spell Steven was under. He shook himself and hurriedly grabbed his trunk. If he didn't get off the train, it might just take him straight back home. Steven pulled his trunk into the narrow corridor and nearly ran right into Sylvia.

"Slow down there, Steven!" She squinted at him. "I was going to ask about your holiday, but you look like you've seen Marley's ghost. Are you alright?"

Steven took a deep breath, but couldn't seem to form any actual words.

"I… um..."

"C'mon, let's get you to the Hogwarts. You'll feel better once you get some food in you." Sylvia took his elbow.

Steven did feel a little shaky on his feet. He tried collect himself and tell Sylvia what had happened.

"Sylvia… I… Tom… he was… I mean…"

Sylvia put a hand over his mouth. "No talking until we get to the Great Hall."

Once Steven was sitting down in the warm Hall with a mug of cider in front of him, he had gotten a little more of his voice back. Sylvia sat next to him with her own mug of cider. Steven looked around to make sure Tom wasn't nearby. The Great Hall had a few students milling around and chatting about their Christmas presents, but he didn't see Tom anywhere. He motioned at Sylvia to lean towards him.

"I think Tom just threatened my family." he whispered. "On the train just now."

"Our Tom?" Sylvia asked back, a little louder than Steven prefered.

"Shh!" He waved his hand to quiet her. "Yes, our Tom. I told him about seeing him in the S corridor that night."

"Then I've been keeping this secret for nothing?" Sylvia threw her hands up in the air.

"No no, I'm very glad that you kept it. I don't know what he would have done if he had found out on his own…" Steven trailed off.

"Well, what did he say? I need details!"

Steven racked his brain. "Not… not very much. He said that if I told anyone, things wouldn't end well for me."

"That's all?" Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't sound that scary to me."

"That's because you didn't hear him say it." Steven shuddered. "It was the way he said it, all dark and cold… I've never heard anyone sound like that before."

"Hm." Sylvia took a sip of her cider.

"I don't know what to think of him anymore." Steven stared into the dregs of cider in his mug. "We had so much fun over Christmas."

Steven heard slow footfalls behind him to see Dumbledore slowly striding through the Hall. Dumbledore caught Steven's eye and smiled at him.

"It's good to see you, Steven. I trust you had a delightful break?"

The sight of Dumbledore reminded Steven about his father losing his job, and he felt his stomach clench.

"I… um… I actually have bad news, Professor. I was hoping I could ask you something later?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course. I'll be in my office in thirty minutes or so, and I'll be there for the rest of the evening, if you'd like to stop by." He started walking away, then turned back to Steven. "Oh, I almost forgot. The password is 'cheese curds.' I had some particularly delicious cheese over the holiday." He smiled kindly, and walked away.

"Cheese curds?" Steven asked, confused. "What does that mean?"

"Oh right, your common room doesn't have a password." Sylvia smiled. "Not all the professors have passwords on their offices, but Dumbledore is a little eccentric. You just have to go up to his office, say the password, and the door should open right up. He changes it pretty often."

"I don't even know where it is. Do you go there very often?"

Sylvia shook her head. "I only went once for detention. But I can show you where it is." She snapped her fingers. "Oh! And you can mark it on your map!"

Steven had nearly forgotten about his map with everything that was going on.

"I left it in the common room over the break, since I knew I wouldn't need it at home."

Sylvia gulped the rest of her cider and stood up. "Let's go get it, then. I also looked at a few spells that we can put on it over the weekend, like how to make things only visible to you and such. We can talk about it on the way!"

As they walked, Steven was lost in thought. Sylvia chatted away as he nodded and inserted the occasional comment, but he was mostly thinking about Tom and his family. It had seemed so innocent to bring Tom over for Christmas and show him how wonderful a family could be, but now things were all wrong. Steven didn't know if he should be really worried about his family or not, but Tom had seemed very scary. Then again, Tom was only an eleven year old boy, there wasn't much he could actually do to them… right?

"Oh, and I was going to mention before Dumbledore stepped in, I did some research on Tom's family."

Steven perked up, interested. "Really? What did you find?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, not much. There's a town called Little Hangleton a few miles over from mine. There's a family that lives there by the same name as Tom, the Riddles. There's even a Tom Riddle. But they're Muggles. It's a very prominent Muggle family, but if Tom is related to them, I highly doubt he's speaking Parseltongue - snake language, I mean. The Slytherins were sticklers on keeping their line pure. On the other hand, it could just be a dead end. Tom's a very common name, you know."

"Yeah. But maybe Tom would like to know anyway. If he has family that's alive, I'm sure they'd want to know about him."

"Oh, I'm sure. Although, I did pick up some rumors that the Tom Riddle in Little Hangleton had an illegitimate son. It sounds like it was quite the scandal, since he is from such a powerful family. But no one knows anything else about it. Apparently the mother was so common that no one even remembers her name anymore."

"That's so sad… I think everyone should be remembered. Even if they were awful, they're still people. Tom Riddle should remember her though, right?"

Sylvia shook her head solemnly. "The story is that after he found out she was having a baby, he left in a rage, and never spoke of her again. They say that he doesn't even remember running away with her, that even he doesn't remember who she is."

Steven hung his head. "That's such a sad story."

Sylvia nodded. "And strange. Not remembering the name of someone you ran away with? I mean, he must have loved her. I've never been in love, but I would think you would remember their name."

They came to the Hufflepuff common room. Steven gave the secret knock and told Sylvia to wait while he got the map.

He rolled his luggage into the room and gave a happy sigh. Home away from home. He loved the round doors and round windows, and the general hominess of the common room. He quickly stowed his trunk away in his dormitory, grabbed his map from the bedside table, and put it in his nearly empty book bag. Then it was back to Sylvia waiting outside. As he left the common room, he noticed Tibbs the house elf tidying up and waved at him.

"Tibbs! I haven't seen you working before, is this your first day?"

Tibbs nodded and grinned. "My dad said it was time for me to learn, Master Steven, sir. I've been practicing while all the wizards be gone."

"Well, you're doing a great job. Keep some time for painting too, okay Tibbs?"

"I will, Master Steven. Thank you sir!"

Steven smiled and headed out the door, holding up the map.

"Excellent! Now we can start marking it up again." clapped Sylvia.

Sylvia looked Steven up and down as they headed to the Transfiguration classroom.

"You're looking a sight better than you did when we came into the station. Are you feeling better too?"

Steven smiled. "I think so. I'm just glad to see good friends again."


	25. Chapter 25

Once they arrived at Dumbledore's office, Sylvia rushed off to her own dormitory and waved goodbye. Steven stood outside Dumbledore's office, and opened his mouth to give the password. He paused. Steven realized that maybe he should be going to Professor Dippet about his father losing his job, not Dumbledore. Steven had never spoken directly to Headmaster Dippet before. He didn't know him, and didn't really feel comfortable telling him about family difficulties. On the other hand, Dumbledore wasn't even Headmaster, and anyway, there probably wouldn't be anything he could do about it anyway. Steven wasn't even fond of Dumbledore. Steven had just convinced himself that this was all a big mistake and that he would go to Headmaster Dippet another day, when Dumbledore opened the door.

"Steven! I've been expecting you. Did you forget the password?"

"No, I remembered." said Steven as he was ushered into the room. "I was just-"

Steven fell silent as he looked around the small room. The walls were packed with shelves full of books. Every spare space was filled with some kind of magical gadget that twirled or spun. A bed sat in a corner, covered in papers and quills. A desk sat in an opposite corner next to a small telescope that was pointing out the window. Both were nearly hidden by a stack of laundry that seemed to pile nearly to the ceiling. Dumbledore lifted a stack of book off of an old kitchen chair near a fireplace, and pulled up an old footstool.

"I apologize for the mess. I keep saying that they should get me a bigger office. Maybe someday…"

"N-no sir." Steven swallowed and clenched his fist. He enunciated to try and stop his nervous stutter. "You don't need to apologize, I shouldn't have interrupted."

"Not at all my dear boy." Dumbledore sat on the footstool, his knees at his chest, and gestured at the kitchen chair. "Please, have a seat."

Steven sat down, and Dumbledore pointed his wand at the fireplace, lighting it with a flick of his wand.

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"I… I, um…" Steven took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I should probably talk to Headmaster Dippet about this, but… it's my father."

Dumbledore leaned forward, concerned. "Is he alright?"

"No. Well, I mean, yes, he's not sick or anything. He's just lost his job is all. And I didn't know… Well, when I first came to Hogwarts, my parents exchanged Muggle money for wizard money, and… I mean, they don't have money anymore. So I don't know… Can I still stay?" Steven ended weakly.

Dumbledore smiled. "Of course you can stay, Steven. We've always had extra for our students in need. You and your family don't need to worry about a thing."

Steven gave a sigh of relief. He felt twenty pounds lighter. "Th-Thank you sir. I mean, this is so kind of you."

Dumbledore waved his hand. "It's nothing, really. If you like I can talk to Headmaster Dippet for you if you like."

Steven smiled. "That would be amazing, thank you sir. I was just so worried, I mean, even with Tom telling me that it would be alright, I was just nervous that with me having a family… I don't know. Thanks, sir." He moved to stand up.

"One moment." Dumbledore said, motioning for Steven to stay. "I feel like that isn't the only thing you're worried about."

Steven froze. "Um… I… I guess not, sir. But I'd rather not say."

Dumbledore looked into Steven with his penetrating blue eyes.

"Didn't you bring Tom Riddle home with you over the holidays?"

Steven shrunk in his chair. "Yes, sir."

"Did you just ask him on a whim to come with you?"

Steven straightened up. "Tom is my friend, I would have asked him anyway."

"So someone told you to ask him?"

Steven froze. How did he know? "Yes, sir."

"Who was it?"

"Professor Slughorn, sir."

Dumbledore paused and leaned back, forgetting for a moment that his chair didn't have a back to lean on.

"Professor Slughorn… Interesting."

Steven shifted in his kitchen chair, uncomfortable. "May I go now, sir?"

"Not quite yet. How did Tom respond to your family? Was he friendly?"

Steven was starting to feel like this was an interrogation. He almost wanted to lie to Dumbledore just to get out of this cluttered uncomfortable room, but he knew that just wouldn't be right to lie.

"He was quiet, sir. I felt like he wished he had a family of his own."

Dumbledore rested his elbow on his knee and stroked his long beard. "Yes… Yes, I wish that he had his own family too."

Steven had a glimmer of an idea.

"Professor, what if Tom did have a family? What if we could find them?"

Dumbledore chuckled. "I'm afraid that's impossible. No one knows who his mother was, and we don't have anything else to go on."

Steven looked down at his shoes. "Well… my friend. She lives near a family named the Riddles. There's even a Tom Riddle. They live in Little Hangleton. I thought, maybe, since they have the same name, there could be some connection."

Dumbledore shook his head. "I doubt it. Tom is a very common name. But, if it will make you feel better, I'll investigate." Dumbledore smiled, and his eyes twinkled. "And has Tom been bothering you at all? Any bullying, stealing, general unpleasantness?"

Steven thought about the voice in the corridor. Then he thought about the incident on the train. He thought about the threat to his family. He thought about how scared he had been. And then, he shook his head.

"No, sir."

Dumbledore looked at him for one long moment, and then smiled at him.

"Alright then. I'm sure I've kept you from your cozy common room for long enough."

Dumbledore stood up and opened the door for Steven.

Steven made his way back to the Hufflepuff common room. It had been a very long day. He pulled out his map and studied it. He had a fair bit done, but he knew it would take years for him to completely finish it. He pulled out a pencil and marked Dumbledore's office on the map. Steven shuffled through the papers, making notes of where he still needed to go. Then he came to the page with the S hallway. He paused. It still wasn't completely filled in. Steven wished he had never even seen that hallway. The moment he had seen Tom there seemed so long ago.

Steven suddenly felt like he was doused in ice water.

"Watch where you're going there, son!"

Steven knew that voice. He looked up to see the Bloody Baron. Steven's stomach dropped. Ghosts were still so terrifying.

"Oh, um, sorry." Steven mumbled. He started to walk quickly away.

"Wait a moment." The Bloody Baron squinted at him. "I do know you! You're that boy who was in the dungeons that night!" He peered at Steven. "You don't look as peaky as you were then."

"I-I've been home for the holidays."

"Oh, that's right! Your mum probably fattened you right up."

Steven had a fleeting thought of body stealing ghosts, and shook his head.

"I'm sorry about walking through you. I was just heading to my common room." Steven made to walk around the ghost.

"I'll come with you." the ghost smiled, and turned to walk next to Steven. "I haven't been down that way for a while."

Steven shivered. "Sure, why not?"

They walked in silence for a moment.

"Have you gone back down that hallway lately?" asked the Baron.

Steven shook his head.

"Such a shame. Probably very wise though. You may not even be able to find it again."

Steven looked at the ghost, confused. "Why not?"

"It's a secret entrance. Not just anyone can stumble on it, you know. I'm surprised you were able to go in the first time."

Steven looked back at his feet. Looking at the Bloody Baron made him queasy.

"Do you know what it's for?" asked the Baron.

Steven shook his head.

The Baron chuckled. "I probably shouldn't tell you. It is a secret after all. But I like you." He stopped, and beckoned Steven closer.

Steven knew it would probably be rude to refuse, and came a little closer. He didn't want to make a ghost angry.

The Baron leaned towards him, and whispered icily into Steven's ear. "It's so that Salazar's vision-"

The ghost stopped and looked up. Steven watched as another ghost, this one a regal looking woman, drifted through the door ahead of them.

"H-Helena?" stuttered the Baron.

The translucent woman looked up and stopped dead in her tracks. Without a word, she swooped above Stevens head, making all his hairs stand on end. She flew down the corridor and straight through a wall at the far end.

"Helena! Wait! I never meant-" The Baron zoomed away after her, and Steven was left alone.

Steven was glad all the ghosts were gone. But he was still curious what the Baron was going to say about Salazar's vision. And why had he rushed away like that after that other ghost?

Steven was just about to start back on his way again, when the ghost of the woman stuck her head out from a wall just in front of him.

"Has he gone?" she whispered.

Steven froze and nodded. As beautiful as she was, she was still a ghost. Ghosts were scary no matter what they looked like.

She gave a sigh of relief and pulled the rest of herself out of the wall. "Good. I have no desire to speak with him. He doesn't often come down this way."

"I'm-I'm sorry. I didn't mean t-to bring him this way." Steven clenched his fist. This stupid stutter…

"I'm sure you didn't." she started to drift away, then paused. "What was he talking to you about anyway? You're a Hufflepuff, correct?"

Steven nodded. "He was saying something about… a vision? Salazar's vision? Something like that."

The ghost knitted her eyebrows, confused. "Why would he be telling…" She straightened herself up. "No matter. It's none of my concern." She turned away.

"Wait," called Steven. He wanted to hit himself for asking a ghost to come back. "I'm-I'm just curious. Why did the Bloody Baron chase after you like that?"

The woman turned slightly towards him, staring at the floor. "It's a long story."

She faded away until Steven was just staring at a blank wall.


	26. Chapter 26

The following week was a hard one for Steven. It felt like he had forgotten almost everything over the break. He had a hard time finding his classes, remembering what he had already learned, and even had a hard time remembering people's names. He saw Casey in the Wishing Room when he was studying one evening, and had talked to him for ten minutes before he remembered what his name was.

When he went to Care of Magical Creatures class, he saw the friends he had met just before the break, Angela and Todd. They waved him over to a table with a large pot of mushroom shaped horklumps.

"It's good to see you, Steven!" smiled Angela.

Steven smiled at Todd, who turned a little pink around the ears. "It's good to see you guys. I feel like I should see you more often."

Angela shrugged. "We've been a little busy. We went to Todd's family's house for the holidays, and since then we've just been studying for our final exams."

"Exams aren't for a few more months though…"

"You'd be surprised how quickly they sneak up on you. Last year I didn't even think about them till a week before, and they just barely let me into my second year." said Angela.

"I'm sure you weren't that bad."

"She was." interjected Todd.

Steven laughed just as Professor Scamander started the lesson.

After they had thoroughly fed and groomed their horklumps, Steven went up to Professor Scamander.

"Professor, I have something I need to ask you about."

Professor Scamander looked over a shoulder at him as he put the last of the horklumps away.

"Steven, I was just about to ask if I could speak with you." He dusted off his hands. "I did some research on your friend's sounds. I don't know why he would be speaking dragon, but I do know there are a lot of other animals that make similar sounds. Any large lizard or snake comes to mind. I communicate with my creatures on a regular basis, and sometimes they communicate with me as well. Does your friend have any particular aptitude for a specific type of animal?"

"Um… I don't know… Maybe?"

Scamander motioned for him to sit down at a table. "I know there are some kinds of snakes that can hypnotize their victims, which would explain why you felt like you were unable to move. I know that there's particular people that have a gift for talking directly to snakes, which is absolutely fascinating. It's called Parseltongue, I don't know if you would have heard that term before. It's often associated with Salazar Slytherin. People have said that he could talk to snakes, although that could just be a myth."

Steven thought back to when he and Sylvia had talked about Tom. "Yeah, I think I remember someone telling me something about it."

Scamander nodded. "I would hazard a guess that Parseltongue was what your friend was speaking. If your friend is willing, I would love to talk to them about it. What do you think?"

Steven looked at his interlaced fingers. "I don't know if he'd be willing sir. You see… I told him about what I heard. That was actually what I wanted to talk to you about. You were really the only grown-up I told and… and I'm scared to tell anyone else. I told him that I heard him, and he was just so furious. I've never had anyone so mad at me before. I… I don't think he's my friend. I think he's… I… Is there something wrong with me?"

Steven's face was red, and his eyes were filling with tears. He hadn't realized how hurt he had been by Tom saying those things to him. His face clenched up, and he felt a hand pat his shoulder for a moment.

"Steven… I… There's nothing wrong with you. I know these things can be hard. Sometimes people just stop being friends. And that's okay."

Steven sniffed, and wiped his eyes. "I'm okay. It's just… It's just scary."

Professor Scamander handed him a handkerchief, and Steven blew his nose.

"Thank you."

Scamander smiled. "You'll be alright. Things will work out with you and your friend, even it's not what you expect."

After Steven had stopped by the bathroom to wash his face, he headed to the Great Hall for lunch. As he walked, he took a detour down a hallway he hadn't catalogued on his map yet. Coming back to Hogwarts had been more stressful than he had anticipated, and he wanted to just take a break to think about it all.

He pulled out his map, marking doorways and windows in the hallways, and even jotting down any interesting paintings or statues he came across, just to set this hallway apart from all the other ones. Steven saw a bust of a man with long curly hair, and was reminded of the Bloody Baron. When they had been talking about the S hallway just last week, he had said something about Salazar's vision… What had that meant? Perhaps the S on the wall had stood for Salazar Slytherin. It seemed likely, what with the green lights glowing from the walls. And then what was it that Professor Scamander had said? Steven tried to sort through all the emotions that he had encountered in the last hour. Steven thought he had said something about Slytherin having the ability to talk to snakes. Could all Slytherins talk to snakes then? Steven shook his head. No, if they could, then Sylvia would be able to talk to them too.

The Bloody Baron had said something else too… That he was surprised Steven was able to find the hallway in the first place. But if it was a hallway, it should always be there. Right?

Steven took a left down a hallway to find a staircase leading down to the dungeons. This was a magical castle. Steven thought about going down the hallway again, and shivered. What if it wasn't always there? Steven checked his watch. It was midday. The dungeon couldn't be that scary during the day. Maybe he should go see if it really was there. But he didn't want to go by himself.

Steven turned back in the direction of the Great Hall. He would ask Sylvia to go with him. She wouldn't mind taking a break from her classes. Maybe she was having lunch.

He set off down the corridor, and nearly bumped into someone headed the other way.

"Well, hello Egbert. I haven't seen your Mudblood face in a while."

Steven looked up to see Walberga Black. He remembered his commitment to make friends with her at the beginning of the year and gave her his best smile.

"Hi Walberga! Did you have a good holiday?"

Walberga puffed up. It seemed to Steven that she was trying to make herself look bigger and more intimidating.

"Don't try and patronize me. Your filthy little tricks won't work. Just because your friends with half the school doesn't mean I'll sink to your level of insignificance."

Steven shrugged. "If you don't want to be my friend, that's okay. I'm just friendly to everyone."

Steven was a little surprised to hear the words come out of his mouth. Normally the thought of meeting Walberga alone in a hallway would have scared him half to death, but compared to the storm he had felt coming from Tom, Walberga now seemed as harmless as a gust of wind.

Walberga sneered. "Friendly to everyone? Like how you lie about your so called 'friends' to make yourself look better?"

Steven looked at her, confused. "What? What are you even talking about?"

"Tom's told me everything." she said, inspecting her nails. "How you pretended to be his friend just so you could be seen with a Slytherin. How you threatened to tell people that Tom's parents were Muggles if he didn't invite you to be invited to Slughorn's club. How you want to be a Slytherin so badly that you cried when the Sorting Hat put you in Hufflepuff?"

Steven's heart sank. He had been sad then, but he hadn't even known what the houses were. But none of those other things were true.

"Tom said that?" Steven asked quietly.

"Every word. I didn't know you could be so heartless, to hurt all those people who were stupid enough to care about you." She smiled a cruel smile, and flipped her long black hair at him as she walked away.

Steven peeked his head through the huge oak doors of the Great Hall. He locked eyes with a Slytherin he had chatted with in Herbology before. He had hoped against all hope that Walberga hadn't told anyone else the lies that Tom had told her. No such luck. The Slytherin boy glared at Steven with such contempt it felt like he wanted Steven to jump into the Black Lake. He kept his eyes down, and saw Sylvia sitting at the Slytherin table. He made a beeline for her.

"Sylvia?"

Sylvia didn't take her eyes off her sandwich. Her eyes were full of hurt.

"I know Walberga is a bully and a liar, but… none of those things she said about you were true… right?"

Steven's heart ached. "What did you hear?"

"She said all kinds of awful things, and Tom was with her. I wouldn't have believed a word she said but… Tom was there. He's our friend too. And he was saying… he was saying that you had never been his friend in the first place. That you had only been hanging around Slytherins because you thought it would make you look better." She paused. "Is that why you're friends with me? Because you want to be in Slytherin?"

Steven reached out and hugged her. "I would never do that, Sylvia. I'm your friend because you're smart and funny and I just like being around you."

Steven let go, and Sylvia gave a small smile. "Well, if you're tricking me into being your friend, you're doing a very good job."

Steven's stomach clenched.

"I'm not trying to impress anyone. I just like being friends with everyone."

Even as he said it. Steven prayed that it was true. Originally, he had wanted to be friends with Slytherins because he wanted to be part of their group. But now, he looked at the individual people he had met, and he really just cared about each of them as a person. Not because they were in Slytherin, Ravenclaw, or any other house. At least, that's how he was trying to be.

"I believe you, Steven." Sylvia smiled. "Sometimes, I think Slytherins have such big egos that they can't see past the end of their nose."

Steven laughed. "Not all Slytherins are like that. I think you're alright."

"Yeah, well, I'm a Slytherin, so I can say that." She smiled at Steven. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."


	27. Chapter 27

Steven and Sylvia left the Great Hall, and Steven remembered the reason he had wanted to talk to Sylvia in the first place.

"Sylvia, I just remembered. I wanted to ask you if you would look at something with me."

Sylvia raised an eyebrow. "What are we looking at?"

"The S hallway. I want to see if we are able to find it again."

"I would think so. I mean, it's a hallway. Hallways are usually pretty stable."

"Not in a magical castle. I was talking to the Bloody Baron the other day, and he said that he was surprised I was able to find it."

Sylvia's eyes widened. "You've talked to the Bloody Baron? He's one of the most ornery ghosts at Hogwarts. He doesn't talk to anyone."

"Really?" Steven scratched his head. "He's talked to me a lot. I don't even try to talk to him, and he finds me."

Sylvia laughed. "Maybe you're just charming to ghosts."

Steven shivered. "I don't want to be. Ghosts scare me."

"Psh. They can't do anything to you." Sylvia smiled. "So what did he say to you?"

"Oh! Yes. He said something about the hallway being a secret, and something about Salazar's vision… I don't really know what he means. Maybe the hallway only comes out at night? Anyway. I just want to go and see if we can find it again. But I don't want to go by myself. So I was hoping… that maybe you'd like to come with me?"

"Of course I would!" Sylvia grinned. "I can't pass up an adventure away from class!"

Since the Great Hall was full of people at the moment, they couldn't use the shortcut to the S corridor. Instead, they took the long way around past the Slytherin common room. As they went, Steven noticed several glares from people that he had only ever been polite to. The farther they went, the more twisted his gut felt.

"Walberga must have told everyone how awful I am…" he whispered to Sylvia.

Sylvia nodded. "I don't know why she has such a vendetta against you. I mean, if she should be mad at anyone, it's me."

Steven looked at Sylvia, confused. "Why would she be mad at you?"

Sylvia looked around, then whispered, "I heard she has a crush on Tom." Sylvia giggled. "I know it's silly. But she's been glaring at me for weeks, since I've been hanging out with him pretty often."

"You hang out with me too." said Steven.

Sylvia shrugged. "You're different. Plus, I know that snipe would never like you. You're too sweet."

Steven blushed.

"Anyway, it wasn't her that started all this anyway. It was Tom. I never thought he could be so… sneaky. Spreading rumors, trying to break up friendships… It seems so low and underhanded. But I know if I try and ask him about it, he'll just go off again about how you've done him wrong."

They came to the entrance of the corridor. The darkness loomed out at them, the torches barely lighting the doorways. Steven felt his stomach jump.

"You ready?" asked Sylvia.

Steven nodded. Sylvia reached out and took his hand, and together they started down the corridor.

They were only a few meters in when Sylvia stopped in her tracks.

"Did you hear that?"

Steven stopped and strained his ears, worried he'd hear ghosts or rattling chains. But instead he heard… music.

"That… sounds like a saxophone." said Steven. "Is there a band class at Hogwarts?"

Sylvia grinned. "Now I've got to know."

She let go of Steven's hand and rushed off down the corridor.

"Sylvia, wait! What if it's…"

Steven couldn't think of what terrifying thing could make a trumpet sound, and Sylvia was already halfway down the corridor. Sylvia stopped next to a doorway, and put her ear to the door. The firelight lit her excited face as she waved Steven over.

Steven groaned, and jogged over to her.

"Listen!"

She pulled Steven's head over, and he put his ear next to the door. He could hear what sounded like a whole band playing behind the door. If Hogwarts did have a band, they were very good.

"Is that… smooth jazz?" Steven whispered.

"I don't know what it is, but I love it." Sylvia put her ear back to the door. "I've never heard anything like this."

Steven listened. There was even someone singing.

"This is 'Fly Me To the Moon'. It's super popular where I'm from." Steven was confused. Sinatra had been his mother's favorite artist when he had left home. She had even played some over Christmas break.

"Let's peek in. I want to see who's playing."

Before Steven could say anything, Sylvia had inched the door open and looked in. She gasped. Steven scrambled around the side of the door, and looked in the open crack of the door.

In a corner of the room stood a shiny gramophone playing Frank Sinatra's record. But around the room twirled about ten couples, all around Steven and Sylvia's age. A tall man in coat-tails glided around the room, adjusting hands and stances of the children. He saw Steven and Sylvia looking in the door and floated over to him. He had a thin mustache and thinner hands.

"Vonderful! New students! Vould you like to join?" He gestured at the room.

"Um… No thank you, we were just-"

"What is this place? Is this a class?" Sylvia interrupted.

"Vy yes! Zis is ze ballroom class! Ve vere part of ze Muggle Studies class, but eet vas so popular zat ve became… how you say… independant?"

Sylvia's mouth was hanging open. "But… what is this music?"

Steven's eyes swept the ballroom as the man tried to explain the intricacies of jazz and foxtrot to Sylvia, and caught sight of a small pale boy with dark hair. It was Tom.

"Sylvia, we have to go."

Steven pulled Sylvia away from the door and the man waved at them.

"Stop by anytime!" he called after them.

Sylvia yanked her arm out of Steven's grasp.

"Steven, what are you doing? That was a really cool class, I was about to sign up!"

"You already have a full schedule." Steven said grudgingly. "And besides. Tom was in there."

"HA! Tom? In there? Isn't he a little… stiff… for that?"

Steven shrugged. "I saw him, so… I guess not?"

"Tom Riddle the dancer…" Sylvia giggled. "This would be a great thing to tell people if you wanted to get back at him. Not that you ever would, of course."

Steven shook his head. He would never share someone's private life with someone else that he didn't absolutely trust. That would have just made all the rumors about him true.

Sylvia looked closely at Steven. "What's with the long face, buddy? How can you be sad after that snazzy music?"

Steven shrugged. "I guess seeing Tom just put me in a bad mood." He sighed. "I just don't know why he's being… such a…"

"Jerk? Ghoul? Stickleback?" Sylvia suggested.

"Yes. All those things."

Sylvia gave a large sigh. "I don't know, Steven. He's a really private person. He doesn't like people to know what he's doing. Who knows why he is the way he is. But all you can do is just take care of yourself."

They came to the end of the corridor. It was just a blank wall.

"Wait, did we pass it?" asked Steven.

"I didn't see it."

"And where are the stairs to the Great Hall? Shouldn't they be right there?"

Sylvia was right. The end of the hallway was just a dead end.

"Let's go back. I can drag my hand down the wall so that I can feel the S. That way if the entrance is invisible or something, we'll be able to feel where it is."

Sylvia nodded. Steven drug his fingers on the rough stone until they came to the ornate S carved into the wall. Steven bent close to the wall and lit his wand. Even with the extra light, he couldn't see the S, or the entrance. But he could feel the indentation on the wall.

"Sylvia, feel this."

Sylvia reached her hand out, and felt the place where the S should have been. She nodded.

"I feel it! But I can't see anything there."

Steven ran his hands over the wall where the corridor should have opened up. But there was simply nothing there. Just stones.

"It's not an illusion over here. I can't even feel an opening."

Sylvia scratched her head. "Strange. We didn't do anything to get in the first time, did we?"

"No, we just found it open." Steven put his hands on his hips, thinking. "Do you think there might be like a button or something we accidentally pushed those other times?"

Sylvia shook her head. "I doubt it. When Tom and I came down here without you, we didn't push anything. It was just open then as well."

Steven sank down on the floor.

"Okay, so what do we know?" he asked.

"Well, there are two things I think it could be." Sylvia sank down next to him. "It could either be that it's only open at night, or it could be Tom's presence opening it. I personally think that it's only open after hours. Whoever built this wouldn't want any old student wandering in if they were lost on their way to class or something."

Steven sighed. "This place still gives me the creeps, even without glowing green lights."

Sylvia stood up, and offered him a hand. "You're right, we should get out of here."


	28. Life Update

Hello everyone!

I just wanted to say, I am super super sorry that I haven't been keeping up with Steven the last few months. I've been working on my master's degree, and working as a substitute teacher, AND I've been pregnant. So it's been a lot of work just to basically live.

I do have an ending in mind for Steven, and I hope you'll continue to be patient in waiting for him. It'll (hopefully) be worth the wait. :)

Again, thank you all so much for coming this far with Steven, who started off as an inside joke with my husband over a bowl of spaghetti. I hope to start publishing again in the next couple months or so.

Thanks!

MaggieJMcGonagall :)


	29. Chapter 28

As much as Steven wanted to figure out what was going on with Tom, his finals were starting to creep up on him. The weeks crept by, and Steven spent more and more time in the library to study. A couple times, he had accidentally been thinking of how much he needed to sleep as he walked past the wall, and opened the door to find a four poster bed next to a crackling fire. Then he would groan, close the door, and try again.

But the closer he got to finals, the more he thought about his friends. He hadn't seen them as often, and when Tom saw him in the halls, he would glare at Steven until he passed by. Sylvia had started to realize how close her tests were and was often busy doing make up work for all the classes she had skipped. Steven was bent low over a Transfiguration essay when he dropped his quill and put his head in his hands. The rustling sounds of the library seemed to echo in his ears. He felt like he had been working on this essay for an hour, and it had only been twenty minutes.

 _How can I focus on Transfiguration now?_ Steven thought. _I haven't seen Sylvia in over a week, I still don't know what's going on with Tom, who doesn't even talk to me anymore, and I'm just so tired._

As Steven let his mind wander, 'Fly Me To the Moon' started playing in his head. Steven wondered if Tom had only joined the dance class after Christmas, or if it was just a coincidence that Tom and his mum liked the same music.

Steven opened his eyes to see Walberga Black was sitting two tables away. She hadn't noticed him yet. Steven looked back down at his book. He didn't want her to notice him. Steven thought about when he had been working on his map with Casey in the library at the beginning of the year, and Walberga had come in and told him that his map was stupid. He thought about how he had felt when Casey told him that Walberga didn't have any friends. He thought about how he had promised himself that he would make friends with Walburga.

Steven held his book closer to his face. He thought about how Walberga and Tom had spread lies about him all over school. He thought about how she had kicked Polly under the table. He thought about how embarrassed he felt whenever she made fun of him. Steven didn't want to feel like that. But he also didn't want to feel like he did right now - conflicted and angry. Steven reached into his bag and pulled out a cookie that he had gotten from the house-elves in the kitchen the night before. He bit half the cookie off and chewed slowly. Something his mum sometimes said was to 'kill people with kindness.' Maybe he could try that.

His legs shook as he stood up. Steven closed his book, stuffed the rest of the cookie in his mouth, and put his book bag over his shoulder. Walberga's nose was buried in her book, her eyes darting across the page. Steven took a deep breath, and walked over to her table.

He took a new cookie out of his book bag and slid it across the table towards Walberga.

Walberga looked up, and scowled.

"What do you want?"

Steven sat down on the bench across from her and pulled his transfiguration book out.

"Just to study." He nodded at the cookie. "And to share my snacks. I have too many of them."

Walberga glared at him. "Why?"

"Well, I need to get a good score on my exams-"

"No. Why are you pretending to be nice to me?"

"What-"

"You're trying to trick me. You're trying to find out my secrets so you can spread them all over the school."

Steven furrowed his brow. "N-no, I just-"

Walberga slammed her hands on the table. "That's it! You're trying to do what to me what you did to Tom! But it won't work. I know your tricks, Egbert." She scooped up her books and stuffed them in her bag. "And you can eat your own stupid cookie. It just makes you look even more like a pig." She stalked off, her black hair swishing behind her.

Steven stared after her, then thoughtfully picked up the cookie she had left behind and took a bite. As he chewed, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turned to see the ghost of Ravenclaw standing inches away. He nearly dropped his cookie.

"H..Hello."

The ghost just stared at him, her silvery hair flowing out behind her. Steven looked around uncomfortably.

"Was… um… Is there something I can… do for you?"

Steven mentally scolded himself. Asking a ghost if there was something you could do for them? What if they asked for your soul?

The ghost tilted her head. "You're very kind."

Steven gathered his books to his chest. "I… um… I didn't mean…"

"That girl you just spoke with. She has no love for you. Yet you make an effort to befriend her. Why?"

Steven gulped. "She… she has no one. She doesn't have any friends. She's mean, so people try to avoid her."

The ghost's eyebrows furrowed. "Interesting." She started gliding away.

Steven breathed a sigh of relief, but for some reason called out to her.

"Wait. Your name is Helena, right?"

 _Why did I do that?_ thought Steven. _I don't even like ghosts._

The ghost paused and turned. "Yes. Although… no living person has called me by that name in centuries."

"Why not?"

"I do not freely share such personal information." She put her chin in the air and turned to glide away.

Steven looked down at his books. This ghost seemed very lonely. Even if she was choosing to be alone, she couldn't be happy. No one had called her by her name in years.

"I think," Steven said, "that it's a beautiful name."

Helena paused.

"Thank you." she whispered.

She glided away. Steven smiled. She was nice, in a creepy, quiet sort of way. He gathered up his books, and thought about heading to the kitchens to catch up with Tibbs and grab a snack for later. He rounded the corner and nearly crashed into Tom.

"Oh! Hi Tom."

What was everyone doing in the library today?

Tom didn't smile. Steven had nearly forgotten that they weren't currently on friendly terms.

"You were talking to the Gray Lady."

Steven shifted his book bag to the other shoulder. "Oh. I didn't know people called her that. I guess she is a gray-ish color. And a lady. She seems pretty nice."

Tom narrowed his eyes. "She doesn't talk to anyone."

"I'm not surprised. She's very quiet."

Steven shifted his weight from foot to foot. He was starting to remember how scary Tom could be when he wanted to. Tom's glare started to soften and he gave a small chuckle.

"Of course. You're very good at getting people to open up to you."

Tom reached out and was about to touch Steven's arm, but then pulled back.

"Could I walk with you?"

Steven nodded slowly. What was Tom playing at? Was he trying to be friends again? Or did he just want to use him for something? Steven wanted to be friends with everyone, but after Christmas, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea. Maybe Dumbledore had been right. Maybe he should distance himself from Tom for moral reasons. And maybe even for his own protection.

"Something on your mind, Egbert?"

Steven shook his head. "Sorry. Just thinking about final exams. They make me go brain dead sometimes."

What was wrong with him? Now he was lying to people? What would Steven's mother think?

Tom gave him a long piercing look. "I know we haven't been… close lately. I'm beginning to realize that building trust takes a great deal of time and effort. I will… try to be better, moving forward."

Steven wasn't sure if he wanted Tom to try to be close to him. He nodded, then looked down at his shoes.

"I've noticed that you often ask people about themselves." Tom asked. "Why?"

Steven shrugged and was silent.

Tom clenched his teeth. "I see. Well. Perhaps next time we will talk more."

He turned and stalked off without so much as a goodbye. Steven tugged on his bookbag. After talking to Tom he felt cold and empty. He definitely needed a hot chocolate.


	30. Chapter 29

The closer finals came, the brighter the sky grew. The clouds were starting to grow thinner, and there were occasional patches of sunshine that shone through the trees. Steven woke the next morning to one of these rays of sunshine coming through his dormitory window. He woke up slowly, and for a few minutes didn't think about Tom or finals or anything else. But the more his eyes opened, the more his memories of the past few days started drifting back into his mind, and the peaceful moment was over. After a few minutes he sighed, sat up, and started getting ready for the day.

He walked into a full, studious common room. With finals approaching, more people were up and studying at this hour than usual. Steven saw Rina in one of the overstuffed armchairs and waved at her. He hadn't seen her since before the holidays.

"Wotcha, Steve! Been a bit." She smiled a crooked smile at Steven.

"Hey Rina. It has been a little while, how was your break?"

"Eh, can't complain. Did a bit of wandrin' round. Finally figured out where the kitchens were. Took me bloody long enough, when theys right down the hall."

"Oh, right." Steven fiddled with his bookbag. If she had wanted to know where the kitchens were, he could have told her ages ago. "Did you meet any of the house elves?"

"You know, I did. Somehow someone said somethin' about you comin' round sometimes, and I says that I knows you. A little titchy one gave me this picture."

Rina pulled out a drawing of a house elf and a rather chubby stick figure with glasses. "I think it's supposed to be you."

Steven chuckled. "That's adorable. I'm not that fat, am I?"

Rina shrugged and folded the picture back up to put it away. "How 'bout you? How was your holiday?"

Christmas break was so far away it seemed like a dream. "Let me think… Oh, my little sister Jamie might be a witch!"

"That's fantastic!" Rina smiled. "How'd she know?"

"She accidentally grabbed my wand and sparks came out. It was really neat!"

"Well, that's just grand." Rina turned back to her paper. "I gotta get this done though. Muggle Studies." She rolled her eyes.

Steven almost turned to leave, but then remembered something.

"Oh, since you're in Muggle Studies, do you know anything about the ballroom dance class?"

Rina's laugh burst out of her. "HA! Course I do, it's hilarious!"

"Are you in it?"

"In the class y'mean? That's rich! Even if I was, I wouldn't say anythin'. It's the stupidest class you could take. Unless," she backtracked, "if you're in the class, I'm sure it's just lovely."

Steven grinned. "I'm not, I was just asking about it for a friend."

"Well, if your friend values their life, socially I mean, they won't take it."

"Thanks! I'll let them know." Steven hoisted his book bag a little higher. "I'm going to breakfast though. See you, Rina!"

Rina saluted him as he headed out the door. He thought for a minute about how nervous he had been around Rina the first time he had talked to her. Maybe his mum was right. Maybe he was growing up.

Steven looked around for Sylvia as he entered the Great Hall. He saw her wave him over to the Slytherin table, and he smiled and started heading over. Before he had even made it a few feet, Sylvia had picked up her plate and goblet and started walking over to him.

"We should sit at the Hufflepuff table." she called.

Steven nodded, and headed to his own house's table. They got there at the same time and sat side by side.

"I didn't feel like sitting with a bunch of jerks this morning, but I also didn't want to be the only Slytherin at the Hufflepuff table waiting for you to show up." Sylvia smiled as she grabbed a piece of toast from a serving platter.

"No worries!" Steven pulled a plate over and started serving himself eggs. "Oh, I was going to tell you. Tom talked to me in the library yesterday."

Sylvia froze, her toast halfway to her mouth. "He did? What did he say?"

"I guess he saw me talking to the Ravenclaw ghost, and was curious."

Sylvia nearly choked on the bite of toast she had just taken. "What?! You talked to the Gray Lady? And you didn't lead with that?"

"I didn't realize it was such a big deal." Steven shrugged. "She actually started talking to me because I tried to share a cookie with Walberga while she was studying in the library. I guess she thought it was a nice thing for me to do."

This time Sylvia did start choking on her pumpkin juice. Steven clapped her on the back until her coughing fit was over. "You have to warn me before you tell me these things! After what Black has done to try and turn the whole school against you, you just walk up to her and give her a cookie?" Sylvia shook her head.

Steven shrugged again. "I just thought it would be a nice thing to do." He started cutting into his eggs.

Sylvia shook her head again. "Alright, so let me get this straight. Yesterday, in the library, you shared a cookie with Black, which got the Gray Lady to talk to you, which got Tom to talk to you?" She rubbed her temples. "This is too much for me to take in."

"I'm sorry." said Steven through a mouthful of egg.

Sylvia took a deep breath, and turned back to her breakfast. "Alright. One thing at a time. I'm guessing Black was as vindictive as ever?"

"Yep. She wouldn't even take the cookie. It was a good cookie too."

"Okay. And then the Gray Lady?"

"That was actually really interesting. Her real name is Helena, but no one calls her that, she won't say why. I'm really curious to learn more about her." Steven paused. "She seems… sad. But also strong. She said it was interesting that I was nice to people who aren't nice to me… I'd like to talk to her again, I think."

Sylvia nodded slowly. "Well, yeah. I mean, she doesn't talk to anyone. Ever. And you've never talked to her before?"

"Oh." Steven paused. "I think I forgot to tell you. She talked to me the other day, when the Bloody Baron told me about the Salazar's vision thing."

"WHAT?!" Sylvia pretended to faint. "This is all too much! And you just forgot to mention it?"

"Well, there were a lot of other things going on at the time…" Steven trailed off.

Sylvia sighed. "Fine. And what about Tom?"

"It seemed like he wanted to be friends again, but he seemed kind of… what's the word when someone is nice just to get something from you?"

"Manipulative?"

"Yeah, that! I just… I want to be friends with Tom still, but I don't want to… I don't want him to be mean to me whenever I do something or say something he doesn't like."

"Hm… This is a pretty tricky situation." Sylvia looked contemplatively into her goblet. "I haven't really talked to him much since the whole thing with Black… But maybe I could talk to him and see if I can find out what's really going on in his head."

"Really? That would be so amazing. You are truly the best." Steven smiled.

"Of course I am." Sylvia batted her eyelashes jokingly. Steven laughed. "Oh, and we should get you talking to the Gray Lady again! I need to live vicariously through you and have you two be best friends."

"Oh…" Steven looked down at his plate. "I'm… not very good with ghosts. I mean, I want to know more about her, but… she's a ghost. And ghosts scare me."

"Ghosts are people too you know. Just… see-through people." Sylvia grinned. "Plus, you've already talked to both the Gray Lady and the Bloody Baron twice, which are the two most notoriously difficult to talk to ghosts in Hogwarts. You're great with ghosts, Steven."

"Well…"

"Maybe you could warm up with an easy ghost. Like the Fat Friar. He's your house ghost, isn't he?"

Steven looked down at his eggs, which were growing cold. "I guess."

"Perfect! I'll talk to Tom, you talk to the Fat Friar, and we'll meet back here at dinnertime. Sound like a plan?"

"Great."

Sylvia smiled. "You'll be fine, Steven. This is nothing compared to giving the meanest girl in Hogwarts a cookie."

Steven's worrying about talking to ghosts was interrupted by Potions class. Professor Slughorn greeted him with his usual smile, and sidled between tables to get to Steven.

"Steven, m'boy, it feels like ages since we've had a chat! Just before the holidays, was it?"

"Yes sir, I do have Potions twice a week though." Steven was a little confused as to why Slughorn was being so friendly. But of course, who was he to judge?

"Of course, of course. But that's not really the same thing as catching up with a friend, is it?" Slughorn beamed. "Actually, I wondered if you ever invited Tom to stay with you over the holidays?"

"Yes sir, I did. I think he had a good time."

"Did he? Splendid, splendid. I had just wondered, since he's seemed a bit… stand-offish of late? Have you noticed anything… odd?"

The image of Tom's ice cold eyes on the train flashed through Steven's mind. "Well sir, there was a bit of a disagreement… but I'm hoping it will blow over soon."

Slughorn smiled. "Good lad. Well, let me know if I can be of any help. I'd better get class started. Nose to the old grindstone, and all that."

Steven watched Slughorn sidle back to the front of the class, his mind already far away from potions. Both Dumbledore and Slughorn were always asking him about Tom. What was it about him that made the teachers so interested in him? Also, if even Slughorn was noticing that Tom was acting differently, maybe it wasn't just Steven who was growing up. Maybe Tom was changing too.


	31. Chapter 30

That night, Steven sat in the common room alone, except for a few late night studiers. He had heard from some of the older Hufflepuffs that the Fat Friar would usually wander through the common room around midnight and check up on anyone who was still awake. Usually Steven went to bed long before that, so he was struggling to keep his eyes open. He wasn't really much of a night owl.

Steven checked his watch. Twelve ten. Maybe the Fat Friar had decided not to show up tonight. Why was he even doing this anyway? He didn't really have anything he needed to talk to a ghost about. Steven stood up and stretched. Just as he was about to call it a night, the Fat Friar floated through the wall next to a large fern. Steven had never met the Fat Friar before, and was surprised that he wasn't actually particularly fat. He was a little overweight perhaps, but no more than Steven. The ghost glided over to a third year at a table and started chatting with her about her end of term exams. Steven smiled. He didn't seem so bad for a ghost.

After a few minutes with the third year, the ghost glided over to Steven. Steven stood up and stuck his hands in his robe pockets. The Fat Friar seemed nice, but he was still a ghost.

"Hullo! I've never seen you up this late before. First year?" asked the ghost.

Steven nodded.

"If you're stressed about exams as well," said the ghost, gesturing to the third year, "you shouldn't be. First year's exams are always easier than professors make them out to be." The Fat Friar smiled kindly.

"Actually," Steven said in a rush, "I stayed up this late to talk to you."

The ghost looked delighted. "Really? How exciting!" He sat down and patted the couch next to him. "Have a seat. I don't bite. In fact, I don't even have physical teeth to bite things with anymore." He sighed. "I do miss the crunch of a good cracker sometimes."

Steven gave a small smile and sat down. The Fat Friar seemed nice. "Can… can any ghosts actually hurt you? I mean me. Can they hurt people like me? Alive people? I just wondered since… well, some of them are really scary."

The Friar chuckled. "Not at all, although some ghosts do enjoy surprising people by walking through them, just to give them a bit of a shiver. Are you from a non-magic family?"

Steven nodded.

"I see. People who aren't familiar with magic will often make up little ghost stories to frighten each other. But it's all in good fun, even less friendly ghosts can't do anything except give a little jump scare."

"So," Steven gulped, "there's no such thing as skin-snatchers?"

The Friar laughed. "Not in ghost form, no. Someone tricked you pretty good, sounds like." The ghost's eyes sparkled, and Steven couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I suppose that's better than the alternative. Of getting snatched, anyway."

"Did you have other ghostly questions?" asked the Friar.

"Yes, actually. Why do they call you the Fat Friar? You're not that fat. And I'm sure you have a name that you'd prefer people to call you."

"Oh, it's all in jest, really. I am a tad portly, but there's really nothing I can do about it now." The Friar patted his belly. "When I was alive, my name was Thomas. Not quite as catchy as the Fat Friar I suppose, but then, all the ghosts here have little nicknames. Comes with the territory of working with young people, you see." He winked at Steven.

Steven smiled. "I think I'll call you Thomas then. If that's alright with you, that is."

"Of course! I would very much enjoy that!" Thomas smiled. "I haven't heard that name for years."

Steven's smile slid a little bit.

Thomas frowned a little. "It seems you just thought of something troubling. Could I… assist in any way?"

Steven gave a small nod. "I actually was talking to the Ravenclaw ghost, Helena, the other day…"

"Helena spoke with you? She's usually quite reserved."

"That's what I thought. But she said no one has called her by her name in years either. Is that just a common ghost trait, or is there more to it than that?"

The Friar, Thomas, rubbed his chin. "Most ghosts do have a bit of a title instead of their real name, but with Helena… She's a bit of a unique case. I don't want to tell too much of her story, since it's hers to tell. I will say that she may want to distance herself from her mortal life. I personally think that she's too hard on herself. She's a sweet soul, but it's hard to move past things once you're… in this state, as it were. All the more reason to make your mortal life a good one, I say." Thomas smiled at Steven. "I'm afraid that may or may not answer your question. But there it is."

The next morning, Steven talked to Sylvia in the Great Hall and told her all about his conversation with the Fat Friar.

"That's a great start." smiled Sylvia. "And now you're not nearly as scared of ghosts anymore!"

"Well, there's some pretty scary ones. I still don't like Peeves."

"Nobody likes Peeves. Remember when we laughed at him until we went away at the beginning of the year?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that! It seems like that was forever ago!"

Sylvia grinned. "I haven't really seen much of him this year, have you?"

Steven shook his head. "Maybe we scared him away."

"Speaking of scaring people away, I tried talking to Tom yesterday. He seemed a little nervous, actually. I tried talking to him about the records I found about the Riddles in Little Hangleton to see if that would calm him down."

"Did it work?"

"I think so. He was really interested in tracking them down, so that made him less nervous I think. Or at least it distracted him from being nervous."

Steven nodded, and turned back to his food.

"Anyway, then I asked him if he wanted to be friends with us again and if he would stop being mean to you. He said he wanted to, but that he didn't know if he could, whatever that means. Maybe we had better talk to him together."

Steven shrugged. "I don't know… I'm wondering if it's worth it or not. I just don't want to get into anymore drama. It hurts my head, and I don't really have the time for it."

Sylvia picked up her spoon and started on her cereal. "Maybe you can think about it, and let me know whenever you're ready. I'll keep hanging out with him, and we'll see if he comes around."

Steven picked at his toast. If only things were that easy.

That afternoon after classes, Steven decided to take a day off of studying. If what Thomas the Friar said was true, he felt pretty alright about half of his upcoming exams. He hadn't worked on his map in a while, and really wanted to get a bit more done before school was out for the summer.

Steven pulled out his map and looked over what he had. He had pieces of most of the floors, but no one floor was completely filled in. Hogwarts was just so big, and sometimes there were parts of each floor that didn't visibly connect with each other. You would have to do things like go down a set of stairs, then back up again to get to another section. It was all very confusing. Steven looked at the section of map around the library. There was a whole piece that wasn't filled in that should have something there. Steven folded up the map and put it away carefully. Maybe if he hung around the library, he wouldn't feel quite as bad about not studying.

When Steven got to the library, he peered through the grand archway to look inside. There were so many people studying, it was hard to see a seat that wasn't taken. Steven's stomach remembered how close exams were and did a little flip to let him know. He straightened his shoulders and walked past the library entrance. The sounds of scratching quills and flipping pages started to fade, and Steven started to relax and notice details about the corridor he was in.

It was a pretty standard hallway, with tall windows and classrooms on each side. Steven wondered if the windows were enchanted to show the view outside, since the classrooms probably blocked out the actual view. He made a note on his map, with the question of "enchanted windows?" in the margin. The corridor split into three, and Steven made a gut decision of taking the entrance on the right.

"I see you were looking for a quiet space as well." said a soft voice.

Steven jumped in surprise and looked around. For a moment he couldn't see anyone, and then a translucent woman faded into view, sitting on a windowsill.

"Helena." Steven sighed. "You scared me."

Helena sat up straighter. "You remembered my name."

"Well, of course I did. You're my friend."

Helena stood and took a step towards him. Even though Friar Thomas had said that ghosts couldn't hurt him, Steven's heart started beating a little faster. She was a very imposing ghost.

"It's been a long time since I had a friend."

Helena glanced up at the entry of the corridor and was gone with a whirl of her cloak. Steven looked behind him just in time to see someone running away from the corridor entrance. Steven stuck his head out to see who it was. He couldn't be sure, but it looked like a pale boy with raven hair.

Tom.


	32. Chapter 31

That evening, Steven watched Tom from the Hufflepuff table. Tom was sitting across from Walberga at the Slytherin table, though they didn't really seem like they were talking much. Why did Tom even hang out with Walberga if he didn't enjoy talking to her? It didn't make sense. Then again, Steven had been trying to be more friendly to Walberga all year long, and he hadn't felt like he had made any progress at all. Walberga was just hard to get along with sometimes.

Steven had been thinking about it all day, and he felt that he needed to talk to Tom one on one. He couldn't just send Sylvia to talk to Tom for him. If Tom really wanted to be friends again, they needed to talk face to face as equals. Steven was just as good as anyone else, and that included Tom. Plus, he was sure Tom had made mistakes before too. Caring enough about someone to try and make sure they were okay didn't seem like something that should be followed by threats.

Plus, Steven felt like he needed to talk to Tom about the ghost thing. It seemed strange to Steven that whenever he was talking to Helena, Tom was right around the corner. Was Tom just following him all the time? Or had he just happened to be around at the same time that Steven and Helena happened to run into each other? Maybe Tom was following Helena around. But then, it would be hard to follow a ghost, with them disappearing and reappearing whenever they felt like it.

Steven grimaced at the Slytherin table. It wouldn't be easy to talk to Tom with Walberga there, but it didn't looks like she was planning on leaving anytime soon. Steven took a deep breath, drank the last of his pumpkin juice, and stood up. He just had to grit his teeth and do it. He tried to look casual as he walked over to the Slytherin table, although he felt like fairies were flying around in his stomach.

One of the other Slytherins elbowed Walberga and pointed at Steven. She turned towards him and nearly snarled.

 _Ohgosh ohgosh ohgosh._ Steven thought. He gulped. Why had he chosen to talk to Tom right now?

Walberga stood up. "What do you want?"

Steven took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I need to talk to Tom."

"He doesn't want to talk to you, Egbert. You've already been stupid enough. Don't make it worse."

Steven shoved his hands in his pockets to look casual. Why did she have to butt in like this?

"Walberga, I just want to talk to Tom. You don't need to talk to me if you don't want to, but Tom and I used to be friends-"

"'Used to' be being the key word." Walberga's voice was growing louder, thriving off the looks she was getting from other students. She wanted this to be a spectacle. "You even tried to pull me into your dumb little circle so that you could use me for your own reasons, just like you used Tom. Good thing that'll never work."

Walberga pulled out her wand, which drew some gasps and elbows from students watching. Tom stood and put his hands on the table, but said nothing. Steven slowly put his hands up, trying to show her that he didn't want to fight.

"Walberga-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she screamed. Anyone who wasn't already watching was looking now. Professor Scamander had noticed the commotion and had started heading towards them, but the Slytherin table was on the opposite end of the room as the staff table.

"Leave him alone, Black." Steven glanced over his shoulder to see Angela and Todd from his Care of Magical Creatures class standing behind him. Angela smiled and nodded at him. Steven gave a flicker of a smile before Walberga started in on Todd, who was turning a little pale.

"Leave him alone? Is that really the best you can come up with, you brainless ape? But of course, the only friend Egbert would have is someone without the ability to form a complex sentence."

Steven heard another voice behind him.

"That's enough, Black. You've done enough damage as it is; you don't need to go around insulting people you don't even know."

Steven turned to see Casey pulling out his wand, and Sylvia running up behind him.

"Yeah, we're sick of watching you make everyone around you miserable." said Sylvia.

A whole group of students had gathered behind Steven, some with their wands out, and some that Steven didn't even know well. Walberga's eyes narrowed as she assessed the whole group. Then she laughed.

"You're all a bunch of losers for hanging around this fat lard." She pointed her wand at Steven's face. " _Stup-"_

Before she could even finish her spell, three shield charms had been cast in front of Steven. The spell rebounded and knocked Walberga back into a conveniently placed tub of chocolate pudding. Steven thought he could see a house elf scurrying away under the table. Professor Scamander made it to the Slytherin table, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and now seemed a little unsure of what to do.

"Um. Well. Excellent work everyone," he said, nodding to the group behind Steven, "But, um, duelling is not allowed in the Great Hall, or anywhere in Hogwarts. That said, those were lovely shield charms." Professor Scamander smiled, then turned to Walberga, who was fuming as she tried to get the pudding off her robes.

"Did you see what they did to me?!" she shrieked at Scamander. "This will take forever to get out! And they all ganged up on me! Ten on one? That's some bravery for you." She glared at one of the Gryffindors in the group.

"Miss Black," Scamander said slowly, "I know you feel this is unjust, and I understand that. But you did pull out your wand first, and from what I have seen, you've been taunting many of these students not just today, but since you arrived at Hogwarts. As much as I despise doling out punishment, I'll need you to start detention with me tomorrow evening for the rest of the week."

"WHAT?!" Walberga screeched. She looked miserable, covered in pudding and on the verge of tears. Steven almost felt bad for her. Walberga glared at Steven, then stomped as loudly as possible out of the Great Hall.

Scamander turned to the group behind Steven. "You've all been wonderfully loyal to Mr. Egbert today, but I can't award points for dueling in the Great Hall. I'm sure you all have studying to do before finals." The students behind Steven started to disperse, patting him on the back, giving him a quick hug, or whispering things like "We'll talk later." Scamander smiled at Steven and was about to head back to the staff table before Steven stopped him.

"Professor, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's not your fault, Steven." Scamander smiled. "Some people just need to learn that they can't treat people as badly as they treat themselves. Miss Black and I will just spend some time talking about how she's doing for her detention. She'll probably hate every minute of it."

Steven gave a small smile and nodded. "Okay… I just didn't want her to get in too much trouble."

Professor Scamander's eyes twinkled. "You should know by now that any trouble Miss Black gets into is self-inflicted." He turned to head back to the staff table, and Steven was left with Tom still watching him.


	33. Chapter 32

Tom was looking at Steven with an odd expression on his face, hands folded under his chin. He looked like he had just watched an interesting scene from a play, instead of two of his good friends fighting.

"Well done, Egbert." Tom smiled.

Steven shivered. Tom's voice was much colder than he remembered.

"Well done?" Steven sat down across from Tom, carefully avoiding the splashes of chocolate pudding that Walberga has splashed everywhere. "I didn't do anything. I just hope Walberga doesn't feel too bad. I didn't mean to offend her or anything."

Tom waved his hand dismissively. "She was weak. She doesn't recognize that there is strength in numbers." Tom paused. "Your group that came to defend you. How did you convince them to help you?"

Steven's forehead crinkled in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Tom raised one eyebrow. "Don't play dumb with me. Did you ask them to assist you beforehand? Did you promise to give them something if they stood up to Black with you? Perhaps you have… knowledge that you offered to share with them?"

"N-No." _Stupid stutter,_ Steven thought. "I didn't ask them. They just came."

"'They just came?'" Now Tom looked confused. "Interesting…"

Tom fell silent, lost in thought. Steven shifted in his seat uncomfortably.

"Tom. I actually did want to talk to you about a couple of things."

Tom didn't move, staring into space about a foot above Steven's head. Steven coughed. Tom gave no reaction.

"Tom." Steven said a little louder.

Tom blinked and looked at Steven as if just noticing he was there.

"I wanted to ask you… Why are you so interested in… all of this?" Steven gestured at the air around him.

"'All this?' I don't know what 'all this' means." Tom waved his hands in the air ridiculously.

Steven started twisting his robes between his fingers. He was starting to get a little nervous. Tom wasn't acting like his old self. It felt like he was dealing with someone completely different.

"Why are you so interested in what I say to my friends? If you're so interested in what it means to for me to have friends, why don't you try to be one yourself?" Steven bit his tongue. Was that rude? Did it make sense? He hoped it made sense. "What I mean is, all I do is be nice to people. Is that so hard to believe?"

Tom tapped his forefingers together thoughtfully. "Actually, yes. It is difficult to believe. Because people don't work like that, Egbert. Everyone has a self interest that drives them. There must be something you're doing that convinces them that you will benefit them in some way. Although, for the life of me, I can't fathom what it is."

Steven took a deep breath. He knew Tom was only trying to figure something out that he couldn't quite understand, but he still felt like something was off. Steven let his breath out slowly, trying to calm himself down. _It's nothing. I just haven't talked to Tom in a while, that's all._

"Maybe people just enjoy having someone to talk to." Steven said calmly. "Maybe caring about each other is the thing that drives people."

Tom looked skeptical. "Hm. Interesting theory. But enormously flawed. This is why I've always found you so interesting, Egbert. You have these ideas and principles that you are so doggedly devoted to that you don't even recognize the evidence that's right in front of you. But somehow, it works for you. You still get people to follow you, to trust you even, when you literally know nothing about how the world works. It's fascinating." Tom tapped his fingers together. "I wondered if it was perhaps just naive children that your… innocent charm worked on, but when I saw you talking to the Gray Lady… the wisest ghost in Hogwarts, talking to _you_ of all people…" Tom shook his head. "It just doesn't make any sense. I decided I need to observe you more closely again, to see what it is I'm missing. It's like a puzzle that I just can't find the right piece to."

Steven sat for a moment or two, unsure of what to say.

"So… What you're saying… Is you think I should be too stupid to have so many friends, so you're surprised that I do?"

"I didn't say that. But if that's how you want to think of it..." Tom shrugged.

"And… you asked to be my friend again… so you could figure out how I do that?"

Tom tapped a finger on the table. "I thought that was obvious. Didn't I ask you at the very beginning of the year if you would teach me how you get people to trust you? That's always been the only thing I've needed from you. And I still haven't learned how."

The Great Hall was nearly empty now. There were only a few stragglers left either reading the Daily Prophet or studying.

Steven turned his attention back to Tom. "I want to help you, Tom. I did say I would help you learn to make friends. I think you're better at making friends than you realize. You made friends with Sylvia all on your own. It seems like you made friends with Walberga, and I couldn't even do that. You were - are - friends with me-"

Tom shook his head. "No. You don't understand. I don't want friends. I want people to trust me."

Steven furrowed his brow. "Isn't that the same thing?"

"No." Tom seemed to be a getting more and more irritated, like he was trying to explain something simple to a child. He stood up. "I need you to explain to me how you get people to trust you. It can't be that difficult."

Steven fidgeted. He felt like Tom was bordering on bullying. But Steven wanted to try and fix this. Maybe he was just having a bad day or something.

"Look, Tom. Maybe we can talk about this in the morning-"

"We'll talk about it now." Tom took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He looked back up at Steven with a calm smile, but Steven could still see the ice behind his eyes. "If you like, I'll walk back to your common room with you, if that's where you're heading."

Steven nodded nervously and stood up. "I-I guess."

They walked together in silence out of the Great Hall, a few pairs of eyes following them into the corridor.

They were silent for a few minutes before Tom cleared his throat, trying to sound nonchalant.

"So… Remind me what 'friends' usually talk about." Steven noticed that the way Tom said _friends_ had a tone of thinly veiled sarcasm. He decided to try and ignore it.

"Well, usually we'd talk about common interests, or things that have happened to us lately."

"Ah…" Tom nodded slowly. "I believe we are both interested in the Gray Lady, yes?"

"Yes…" Steven twisted his fingers into the fabric of his robes. "I actually wanted to ask you why you're so interested in her."

Tom gave Steven a brief look of _why should I tell you?_ but then replied. "She's a curious ghost, isn't she? Each of the house ghosts seem to have a reason for lingering after their deaths. And as much research as I've done, I can find nothing about her. In fact, the most I've learned about her, I've heard from her conversations with you."

Steven looked sideways at Tom. "So… have you been following me? Or following her somehow?"

Tom ignored the question. "I'm… curious about her. I doubt you could introduce me to her. From what I've seen, she's very particular about the company she keeps. But I would… appreciate it… if you could tell me a little more about her. Once you learn anything use-... interesting."

Steven thought for a moment. It couldn't really do much harm, could it? Steven was also curious about her, it couldn't be too much trouble if he and Tom just wanted to know more about her.

"Okay. I'll see what I can do." Steven hesitated. "But no more following us around. It scares her off. And it's a little creepy."

Tom smiled. "Excellent."

Steven took a deep breath. "Tom, with the trusting and friends thing, there's not really much a I can teach you. You just have to be nice to people and be yourself."

Tom was quiet for a minute. "Alright. Perhaps people want to be around others that make them feel good about themselves. But I don't understand how that leads to something like what happened this evening when they all defended you from Miss Black. Having someone belittling you wouldn't be pleasant, I imagine."

"No, but I would do the same thing for them. I may not be particularly helpful, but if someone was being mean to one of my friends, I would do my best to stand up for them."

Tom scoffed. "That seems ridiculous. What if one of you is weaker than the other? One of you would be doing all the work of standing up for the other, who would just grow weaker from not fighting their own battles."

"That's why we help each other." Steven gave a small smile. "If we are both lifting each other, then we both get stronger."

Tom looked at the ground and rubbed his chin. "I see…" he muttered. "It would have to work off of some kind of exchange system…"

They had reached the Hufflepuff common room. Tom looked up, and realized where they were. He smiled.

"This has been an enlightening conversation, Egbert. I look forward to talking in the future. In the meantime, you won't forget to talk to the Gray Lady?"

"Sure, I mean, when I get around to it-"

"Fabulous. I'll see you tomorrow." Tom whipped around and stalked down the corridor without a backwards glance.

Steven slowly knocked the secret knock and let himself into his common room. Were he and Tom friends again? Maybe this was as close to friends as you could get with Tom. With Tom giving you errands to run and you giving suggestions when asked. Steven sighed. He was confused. And tired.

Steven fell onto his bed without taking off his shoes, and seemed to fall asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.


	34. Chapter 33

It was the next morning during breakfast that Steven realized that Tom had been expecting him to talk to the Gray Lady today. Steven immediately lost his appetite just as Sylvia came to sit with him.

"So Walberga yesterday-" Sylvia began.

"Tom wants me to talk to Helena for him today." Steven stopped, realizing he was talking way too fast.

"Helena… As in the Gray Lady?" Sylvia asked, spooning jam onto her toast. "It's kind of tricky to find her if you're looking for her. What did he want you to ask her?"

Steven shook his head. "I don't know. He just said he was curious about her and wanted to know if I learned anything interesting from her."

"Well, she is the ghost of Ravenclaw. I'm sure you could learn a lot of interesting things."

"I think he was interested in her personally. Like, backstory-wise." Steven sighed. "I don't have time to hunt down ghosts today though… I have a final exam in Transfiguration on Tuesday. I was going to study…"

Sylvia waved her toast dismissively. "Ghosts are much more interesting than studying. I'm sure you can take one day off to do some ghost hunting."

Steven decided to compromise. After breakfast, he decided to go to the library to do his studying. Helena was the Ravenclaw ghost, after all, and she seemed to frequent places with a lot of books. Steven wondered if ghosts could even open books or turn pages. Maybe he would ask Helena if he saw her.

He opened his Transfiguration textbook, about to flip through and look at anything he had underlined, (in pencil, of course. Madam Pince would be livid if she saw him writing in a book with a quill.) but just as he found his place, the chair across from him scuffed against the floor. Steven looked up to see Casey sitting down across from him.

"Hey Steven, haven't seen ya in a while."

Steven smiled. As much as he should study, distractions were always welcome.

"Hi Casey! It has been a little while. How are your exams going?"

"They're alright, I suppose." Casey looked around. "I heard what happened with Black last night. I'm sorry I wasn't there… I'm real impressed that you stood up to her though."

"It… wasn't really me. I was just trying to talk to Tom, and she started yelling, and one thing led to another I guess…" Steven looked down at his book. "It was really everyone else… I just hope she wasn't too sad about it."

Casey chuckled. "She wasn't sad. Mad as a hornet, though. I actually talked to her about it afterwards. Who would've known that she's one of those people that cries when she's mad." Casey shook his head, then smiled. "I um… actually wanted to tell you something. But you can't tell anyone else. We're trying to keep it on the down low…"

Steven leaned forward. "I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. At least… I think I am."

Casey grinned and whispered, "Walberga and I… well, we're together. I mean, it's only been a couple weeks, but-"

Steven's jaw dropped. "You - you two - what?!" He tried to keep his voice as low as possible, and so it came out in a whisper yell that was almost a squeak. "But - I mean - Is she nice to you?"

Casey chuckled. "She's alright. And we're working on her people skills. She just had this weird thing with you we couldn't get over. But now I think she's planning on steering clear of you, at least until she figures how to work out whatever issue it is she has with you in particular."

Steven was still sputtering. "I - are you - what - but - I mean - Are you… happy?"

"Are you kidding? I've had a crush on her for the last two years. I'm great! She can be a little abrasive at times, but she's so… tough. She's a really strong person, she just doesn't know how to control it sometimes. I really do like her, Steven." Casey couldn't stop smiling. "She's really an amazing person, once you get to know her."

Steven tried closing his open mouth and gave a small smile. "I mean… I guess if you're happy, I'm happy for you. I did hope that she'd find a friend. If it's not me, I'm glad that it's you."

Casey grinned. "Thanks, kid. That means a lot." He stood up. "I probably should let you get back to studying. Thanks for being so supportive."

Casey walked away and Steven shook his head. Dating Walberga Black sounded like it should be a nightmare, but Casey did seem genuinely happy. Steven turned back to his book. People were weird.

Helena didn't show up in the library for the next couple hours, and Steven had done all the Transfiguration studying he could do. He remembered he also had a Potions final on Wednesday, and decided it may be good to practice making a couple of the more difficult ones before then. He could go to the dungeons and practice with the cauldrons in the Potions classroom in the dungeons, but it was so dank and dark down there. The Wishing Room at least had windows. Plus, it wouldn't be as crowded, since not as many students knew about it. The last time Steven had gone to the Potions classroom just to practice potion making, it had been hard to find an empty cauldron, let alone an empty table. So he packed his Transfiguration book away and headed to the third floor to go to the Wishing Room.

As he went, he tried to take a roundabout route to get there. He was still working on his map, and he needed to stretch his legs anyway. As he took notes and jotted down new doorways and corridors, he thought about the last couple of days.

Steven wasn't quite sure if he and Tom were really friends or not right now, but he was willing to try out this thing with Helena, just to test the waters a little bit. Was that something he should be doing? Testing his friends? Steven lowered his head. He felt like friends should be able to work based on trust, not based on proving that you wanted to be friends or not. Maybe whatever this was with Tom wasn't such a good idea. And what if Helena thought she was betraying his trust by telling someone else anything he learned about her? Wouldn't that be even worse than testing Tom, who was supposedly his friend? And he had already told Tom that he would get him more information on Helena. So if he went back on what he had already said he would do, would that make him a liar?

Steven rubbed his eyes. How did he get himself in such moral dilemmas?

He looked up and made a final note on his map. He opened a door on his left, and realized he was in the third floor corridor, right across from the Wishing Room. At least Steven had gotten where he meant to go, even if he couldn't figure out the complicated ethics of social interactions.

Steven walked past the wall three times as usual, and opened the door. But instead of finding the study room he was expecting, he had opened the door to a Victorian era sitting room, complete with chandelier and a massive fireplace. Sitting in one of the armchairs reading a translucent book was none other than Helena Ravenclaw. She looked up when she heard the door open.

"Oh… Hello. I… wasn't expecting visitors."


	35. Chapter 34

Steven's jaw went slack as he looked around the room. He must have been thinking more about Helena than studying when he walked by.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to intrude. I was - I was just... " Steven tried to find the words to explain. "I was just… I guess I was just thinking about you." That sounded so corny. "Not like that. I mean, as a friend."

Helena smiled. "I was actually thinking about our last conversation as well. Usually students can't access these chambers. But I suppose the room linked us together somehow." She looked around the room. "It really is a clever piece of magic, isn't it?"

Helena looked more at ease than Steven had ever seen her. Unlike the study room, there were doors leading off of the sitting room that Steven guessed lead to more of Helena's 'chambers'.

"Do you live here?" Steven asked. "Well, I guess, not live here, since you're a ghost… but I mean…" Steven trailed off, mentally kicking himself for his struggles with words.

"Yes, this is where I reside." Helena smiled. "You're welcome to sit, if you wish."

Steven walked awkwardly to an armchair and sat on the very edge of it. He wasn't quite sure what to say to Helena, now that she was here. She looked up from her book and smiled kindly.

"I assume you're familiar with this room. If you'd like refreshment, it will appear for you. I think you are more at ease when you have something to eat, yes?"

Steven nodded, and looked down at the end table next to him to see a plate of biscuits next to a steaming cup of tea. He picked up a biscuit, and bit into it. It was perfectly crumbly.

"Th-Thank you." Steven smiled. Helena was really very sweet.

Helena closed her book. "I did nothing. But it is nice to have company. I'm afraid I may not be the most loquacious of hosts though. I'm a bit out of practice."

Steven took another bite of his biscuit. "That's okay." He looked around the room. "Your place is really nice. Did you grow up in a house like this?"

Helena chuckled. "No. No, my house was quite different. We lived in a castle similar to Hogwarts, all stone and tapestries. I just love the aesthetic of this particular century." She looked around. "Maybe I'll redecorate soon… in a decade or two."

Steven's eyes were wide. "You lived in a castle?"

Helena raised her eyebrows. "Well… Yes. I grew up in the 1000s, and my mother was quite an accomplished witch. Once Hogwarts was founded, I actually lived here year round with my mother."

"Oh right, because your mum founded Ravenclaw. I forgot about that."

Helena cocked her head to the side. "Really? I… It's been a long time since… I mean, it's nice to be recognized as someone different than my mother. We… didn't get along, you see."

Steven bowed his head. That would be hard, to not feel like you could talk to your own mum.

"I'm so sorry. That sounds awful. I don't really talk to my dad much though, so I can relate. I think."

Helena shrugged. "It's the way things are, I suppose. And I'm sure it's hard for parents to see eye to eye with their children sometimes. I wouldn't really know."

"Did you have any kids?"

Helena looked down at her book. "No. I… It's a long story."

"I have time." Steven smiled. Helena looked up nervously at him, then smiled back.

"It's not that I didn't want a family. I was just… married to my work. My mother… she didn't really understand. Or… I thought she didn't. Everyone thought she was so wise and so clever, but then all she'd ask me about was that idiot Baron." Her voice was full of bitterness. "I didn't care about him, but that didn't mean I didn't care about anything… or anyone else."

"Wait - the Baron? As in the Bloody Baron?"

Helena sighed. "Unfortunately, yes."

"Oohh. So _that's_ why he was chasing you down that one day that I saw you."

Helena shook her head. "I haven't been able to escape his affections even in death. A cruel trick of fate." She paused. "Have you ever heard of Ravenclaw's diadem?"

Steven shrugged. "Can't say that I have…"

"It's all right. To condense the story, it was a sort of tiara that my mother would often wear. Everyone said it had special powers that would enhance the wisdom of whoever wore it. It actually didn't do much, it just a simple wit sharpening spell on it. But it was an heirloom that my grandmother had given her… Anyway, we had had a particularly bad disagreement, and I… I left. And I took the diadem out of spite. I was just so angry. I… I left and didn't come back." She took a deep breath. "When I realized how petty I had been… I couldn't return. I had already established a life for myself in a far away country… I was too full of pride to ask my mother to forgive me, even then."

Steven was on the edge of his seat. "That… that sounds awful. Did you ever see her again?"

Helena sighed. "She was on her deathbed before she sent for me. But… unfortunately she sent the Baron. He traveled to Albania to find me, and I was so appalled that she would send _him_ of all people, when he had been the cause of our dissociation in the first place… It brought back every memory of anger and hatred as if it had been yesterday. So… I refused to go with him. He was… displeased… that I still spurned his advances after all those years. So he stabbed me."

Steven's eyes widened. "He… stabbed you? Did you… did you die?"

Helena gave a wry chuckle. "He murdered me. Then killed himself." She shook her head. "I thought that by becoming a ghost, I wouldn't have to see him in whatever life comes after this. I suppose I guessed wrong. And now I'm trapped here… with the spectre of my murderer…" Her voice started to crack. "I… I only wish that I had been able to give the diadem back to my mother before she died. I wish I could have rectified things with her… before…"

Ghostly tears started to fill Helena's eyes. Steven wished he could give her a hug, but his arms would probably go right through her.

"I… I'm so sorry, Helena…"

She sniffed. "You have nothing to apologize for. I'm sorry to act like this. I don't know why I just started lying the story of my death at your feet…" She smiled at Steven. "It feels good to talk about this, though. I hope you'll forgive me."

Steven smiled. "There's nothing to forgive."


	36. Chapter 35

After chatting with Helena for a little while longer and thanking her for the biscuits, Steven headed back to his common room, fully intent on actually getting some sort of studying done today. Plus, he thought he might drop by the kitchens for a snack. He hadn't talked to the house elves for a while. Maybe it would be a good idea to see how Nibbs and his family were. Steven shook his head and sighed. It seemed like everywhere he went today there was someone who wanted to talk to him. Maybe trying to study today was a lost cause.

Luckily, he got to his common room without incident. He smiled, and chose a back table to work on the study guide for his Charms final. After a few minutes, Steven's mind started drifting back and forth between his conversation with Helena and his situation with Tom. Helena must have been in a really difficult family situation to want to run away from her mom. And she hadn't even talked about her dad at all. Maybe she had an even more difficult relationship with her father then she had with her mom. Or maybe her dad had died when she was young. Maybe he should have asked about her dad more. Steven thought about how Tom had reacted when Steven had asked him if he had grown up with his father. It seemed like a sensitive subject for both of them. Maybe if Tom wanted to become friends with the Gray Lady, that was something they could talk about - that is, if either of them would open up enough to talk about their parents.

But Steven wondered if Tom even wanted to be friends with the Helena, or with anyone. Earlier he had said that he didn't want friends, but that he wanted people to trust him. Weren't those the same thing? Steven could see that Tom thought that they were two different things. So what did he want from Helena? Did he just want her to trust him? Did he want to understand her? Or was he really just interested, like he said?

When Tom had asked Steven to bring him the crystalized pineapple, Steven had thought it was just something nice to do for a friend. But then Tom had used the pineapple to become better friends with Professor Slughorn. Or… not friends. If Tom didn't want friends, then the pineapple could have been more like a way to get Professor Slughorn to trust him. Steven wasn't actually sure whether Tom actually liked Professor Slughorn or not. If Tom was just trying to get Slughorn to do something for him, like how he had been trying to get Steven to do things for him...

Steven blinked and looked down at his Charms study guide. This studying was going nowhere. But he had to keep trying. He pulled out his pencil and started underlining a sentence.

… _a charm adds certain properties to an object or creature, whereas a transfiguring spell will change it into something utterly different._

It almost seemed like Tom had been charmed, or even transformed, from the person Steven had first become friends with into the person he was now. Even more than adding something to his nature, it seemed that Tom had changed into something utterly different. Steven wondered what it could be that had changed Tom so much. His mind drifted to the S hallway in the dungeons. Before they had found that hallway, Tom had seemed like a slightly weird, but fairly normal kid. It seemed like the more Steven had learned about that hallway, the more sinister it became. If Tom had spent much time there, that could be what had made him so manipulative. Or had he always been that way?

Steven rested his head in his hands. Maybe it wasn't Tom who had changed. Maybe it was Steven who had changed. At the beginning of the year, he never would have been suspicious of ulterior motives from someone he called a friend. Steven missed the simplicity of his friendships before he had gotten to Hogwarts. But he also was glad that he had met so many amazing people here. He just wished that being friends with Tom hadn't been so complicated.

Steven stood, packing up his books. He wasn't getting any studying done, and it was getting late anyway. He looked at the clock. 8:20. It was a little early for bed, and he wouldn't be able to sleep with the state his brain was in anyway. Steven stuffed his Charms book into his bag and heard a crunching sound. He reached in and pulled out the crumpled piece of paper that was his map of Hogwarts. Steven laid it on the table and it flattened out by itself, good as new. He would have to thank Slyvia for that anti-aging spell she had put on it. Picking up the map, he looked over the empty spaces. Maybe he could wander the halls for an hour or so to clear his mind and fill his map.

Once Steven had put his books back in the dormitory and grabbed a snack from the community food table in the common room, Steven headed out into the castle. His map said there were still a few unrecorded hallways near the Slytherin common room, maybe he should go there. Maybe he would even run into Sylvia or Tom down there.

The closer Steven got to the Slytherin common room, the more he thought about Tom and the S hallway. There must be something in there that had made Tom act the way he had been. Maybe if there was a way Steven could convince Tom to stay away from there, they could go back to being friends again, instead of being suspicious of each other all the time.

Steven hated feeling like this. He must be an awful person for wanting to change his friend. He knew he shouldn't have requirements for friendship; he should just accept people as they are. But Steven didn't want to be taken advantage of either.

Maybe he should just try and find Tom instead of working on his map. Tom was probably in his common room; maybe Steven could ask one of the Slytherins if they would ask Tom to come out and talk to him. Tom had asked him to tell him more about Helena today anyway, and Steven hadn't seen him all day.

Steven reached the door to the Slytherin common room. He wasn't there long before the door squeaked open and Macnair came out. Steven waved at him, and Macnair gave him a surprised nod.

"Hi Macnair! It's been a while." Steven smiled, trying not to show how worried he was.

"Egbert. Hey, I didn't expect to see you around here this time of night." Macnair looked around nervously. "You should probably head back to your own common room."

Steven rubbed the back of his neck. "I know. I actually came to see if Tom was around. I needed to talk to him about something."

"Tom… Tom Riddle, you mean? He hasn't been in since dinner. I thought you two weren't really hanging out anymore."

Steven shifted his weight nervously. "I mean, we might be again soon… That's kind of what I wanted to talk to him about."

Macnair raised his eyebrows. "Hm. Interesting. Well, if you do, hopefully I'll see more of you soon." He started off down the hallway and waved at Steven. "Good luck finding him!"

Steven waved, then shoved his hands in his pockets. Tom was probably in the S hallway. Steven didn't want to go down there again, but the longer he waited to talk to Tom, the more frustrated he would get with himself. He dragged heavy feet down the hallway, straight to the dark corridor that had haunted him for so many months.

Steven dragged his fingers along the cold, damp stone until he found the engraved S in the wall. The blank wall that had stopped him and Sylvia last time they had come down here was gone, opening onto the spiraling hallway. Faint green light glowed from around the bend, and Steven gulped. Tom must be down there.

Steven stepped cautiously into the corridor and followed the hallway, the slight incline matching the sinking feeling in his stomach. As the green light grew slightly brighter the further he went, it occurred to him that the wall behind him could suddenly reappear without him knowing, and then he would be trapped down here for who knows how long. He started breathing faster. Why hadn't he thought this through? This was all a dumb idea - he should have just waited to see Tom tomorrow. He put a hand on the smooth marble wall to steady himself. Steven remembered the last time he had come down here and how worried he had been about Tom. Now he was here for Tom again - but why? Because they were friends?

Steven planted his feet and straightened up. Yes, because he was Tom's friend. And even if Tom didn't care about him, he cared about Tom. And he would do anything he could to get Tom out of this situation.

He walked with new determination further and further down the corridor. But slowly, a new thought crept into his mind. What if Tom didn't want his help? What if Tom was comfortable being angry and manipulative? What if Steven couldn't help him? Steven tried to wave away these thoughts. He would cross that bridge if he came to it. And anyway, no one actually liked being angry and manipulative… did they?

Lost in his own thoughts, Steven almost didn't hear the faint sound of hissing. His footsteps slowed. What could that sound be? Maybe it was water running through the pipes? Then he heard the deep low sound that he had heard the last time he had come here. It was much louder this time. And much closer.

Steven peered around the corner and saw something that made his blood run cold. It was Tom, sitting against the wall. And coiled at his feet was a huge black snake.


	37. Chapter 36

Steven ducked back behind the corner, breathing hard. That snake was as thick around the middle as he was, and it had to be at least fifteen feet long. Even just a glimpse of it had made him want to freeze with fear. The room behind Tom was enormous, the walls lined with statues of snakes. On the far wall was a massive carving of a man's head. Tom's high hissing voice and the low hissing of the snake echoed through the chamber. Steven's hands shook. He should get out of here right now. He would talk to Tom tomorrow. Steven started to edge along the wall, but his foot slipped on the damp floor, and he fell, his hands smacking on the floor just as he caught himself. The voices stopped. Tom's high voice hissed urgently, and Steven heard something slithering away.

Tom would be furious if he found him here again.

Steven scrambled to stand up, but Tom came around the corner just as he got to his feet.

"Egbert?"

Steven turned just in time to see Tom's face go from confused to betrayed to enraged.

Steven held up his hands. "Tom. I can explain. I-I was just-"

"You should never have come back. Didn't I say to forget that you had ever seen me here? DIDN'T I?!"

"Y-yes, of course you did, I just-"

"Then why are you here?! You could have been-" Tom cut himself off. "This place is enormously dangerous. You can't even begin to fathom-"

"That's why I came!" Steven yelled. "Tom, you're the one that shouldn't be here. Have you seen what this place has done to you? You hardly act like yourself anymore. You need help-"

"HELP?" Tom laughed a cold, shrill laugh that gave Steven the chills. "You're worried about exams and your friends and your precious little family. I have much weightier matters to attend to. Your _help_ is insignificant. I don't need your or anyone else's pity. And besides," a small piece of the ice melted from Tom's eyes, "this isn't the place for this. If you had stumbled in at the wrong moment-" Tom looked at the ground and took a few deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

Steven's eyes were wide. Tom was acting stranger than Steven had ever seen him. Tom was flipping between absolutely terrifying and a scared eleven year old. Steven would have to be careful about how he handled this.

"Tom," he said slowly, "I came to tell you that I talked to Helena earlier today."

Tom perked up, suddenly interested. "Really? You talked to the Gray Lady again? What did she say?"

"She told me the story… of how she died. Would you like to hear it?"

"Yes, yes of course, tell me everything." Tom's eyes looked hungry.

Steven paused. Maybe he shouldn't tell Tom anything. But if it distracted him from this scary side of himself...

"Well, it seems like Helena and her mum didn't have a great relationship. After Hogwarts she ran away from home and took something of her mother's because she was mad…"

"And what was it she took?"

"Um… a diadem. A tiara of her mother's. Helena felt really bad because she never talked to her mum or returned it before she was killed by the Bloody Baron."

Tom nodded, not looking the least bit surprised. "I see. And where did she hide it?"

Steven wrinkled his brow in confusion. "Hide what?"

"The diadem. The diadem she stole from Rowena Ravenclaw." Tom said impatiently.

"I… I don't know. All I know is she took it to a different country with her when she left."

"Yes, but where did she go?" Tom's eyes started growing angry as well as hungry.

"Um…" Where did she go? Steven knew Helena had mentioned it. Armenia? Algeria? "I think it was… Albania?"

Tom's mouth twitched. "Albania. That's a bit obscure."

"Well, she wanted to run far away." said Steven defensively.

"Hm. I suppose. I'll have to do some research to verify… but I'm sure… I have plenty of time..." Tom muttered to himself.

"What did you want to learn about Helena?"

Tom glared at Steven. "Is that really any of your concern?" The ice had returned to Tom's voice. "I told you I was curious. You've told me, and my curiosity has been sated. Now you can leave." He turned to walk away from Steven.

Steven didn't want to make Tom any angrier than he already was, but he couldn't just let him go. He had come here to help his friend, and that's what he would do. He took a deep breath.

"Tom, come with me. I came here to talk to you about Helena, but I also came because you're my friend. I'm worried about you, Tom. I miss spending time with you and Slyvia. Remember the first time we all went exploring together? We had so much fun. Can't we just stop overthinking things and be that way again?"

Tom paused and looked at the ground. "Do you remember what else happened that night, Egbert?"

Tom's voice was tight, his back tense.

"It was the night we found this place. The night _I_ found this place." He turned to face Steven. His eyes were still on the floor. "The sounds you heard… It wasn't the pipes. It was Angie."

Steven paused. "Um… Angie?"

Tom sighed. "The snake you saw? Her real name is Anguis. I… I just call her Angie in my head." Tom blushed.

Steven had never seen Tom blush before. He didn't know he could blush.

"She was lonely." Tom continued. "She told me that she had sensed me and that she hadn't talked to anyone in hundreds of years. She said she needed me. And then… she lead me here." Tom lowered his voice. "She told me secrets. Secrets that she had been holding onto for centuries. She told me about Slytherin's great vision for the future of the magical world. We became close. Her dreams became my dreams…" Tom trailed off for a moment, then his attention snapped back to Steven. "She's dangerous to people like you though. That's why you have to leave."

Steven planted his feet firmly on the cold, smooth stone. "I'm not leaving here without you. Maybe we can talk to someone about this. Professor Scamander maybe, or Professor Slughorn-"

Tom's voice snapped back into cruel coldness. "Slughorn?! That fool can't tell a marsh from a mud puddle. And Scamander is just as pathetic as you are, _Egbert_. I'm not talking to anyone about any of this. People are idiots who take one look at anything special and try to destroy it. What I have is special, and I won't let you or anyone else mess it up."

Tom raised his hand and snapped his fingers, the sound cracking the through silence of the chamber behind him and echoing off the walls. Steven heard a slithering sound inside the walls around him, and the bottom of his stomach dropped.

"I don't want you to get hurt, Egbert," Tom said in a sickly sweet voice, "but if you don't leave now, it won't be me that kills you. All you need to do is turn around and walk out of here. This was all just a bad dream."

Steven gulped. He nodded, turned, and walked carefully up the hallway. He couldn't even make himself look back.


	38. Chapter 37

The next few weeks, Steven moved through school on autopilot. He spent his days studying for his finals. He tried not to think about the night in the S hallway. He and Tom didn't make eye contact when they saw each other in the corridors or the Great Hall. Whenever Sylvia would ask him about Tom, Steven would shrug and go silent. After a few instances of this, she started to not mention Tom at all. Steven was really glad, because he wouldn't know what to say to her anyway. He couldn't hardly process what had happened himself, he didn't want to bother Sylvia with it too. He decided it was probably better to just leave it alone.

But even avoiding the topic and filling his time with Transfiguration wasn't enough to completely erase Tom from his mind. Steven still hadn't quite forgiven himself for walking away from his friend when it was clear that he needed professional help. At the same time, he didn't doubt that that snake could have swallowed him in one gulp - or worse. And the look in Tom's eyes when he told Steven that he wouldn't be the one killing him… he had been dead serious, in every meaning of the word.

The week of finals came, and Steven got through it mostly unscathed. He had a bit of a mishap during his Charms exam where he had singed his eyebrows from mispronouncing a simple Levitation charm, but other than that he felt he did quite well.

And just like that, it was the end of the year. The night before he left to go home, he looked around his dormitory, making sure everything was packed. Steven felt like he was leaving with much more baggage than he had come with, and not just in the physical sense. He needed a break. And a snack. Steven checked his map. Sylvia had put a charm on it that now showed where people were in the castle. Steven had asked her how she knew everyone in the castle, and she just shrugged and said that she may have figured out the tracking spell that her dad used for his job at the Ministry of Magic.

"Don't tell anyone though, because I really shouldn't even know that the Ministry tracks people at all." She'd winked at him over the top of her book.

Steven looked for Tom's moving dot on his map. It looked like he was in his common room. That was good. That meant that Steven wouldn't bump into him on the way to the kitchens.

Steven packed up his map and headed out, waving at Rina as he passed through the common room. He hated how paranoid Tom had made him. Would this be how his next six years of Hogwarts would be? Checking around corners to try and not bump into Tom? Maybe he should just quit Hogwarts and live a normal life without magic. That wouldn't be so bad, right?

Steven walked up to the portrait of the fruit bowl and tickled the pear to turn it into a door handle.

"Master Steven sir! We has not seen you in an awfully long time, sir!"

"Hello Nibbs." Steven looked up at Nibbs and forced a smile. "I'm sorry it's been so long."

"Not at all, Master Steven! We has missed you is all."

Some of the other house elves smiled and bowed to Steven as they hurried by carrying platters of food bigger than they were.

"Everyone looks pretty busy today… Maybe I should come back another time." said Steven.

"It's time again for the end of year feast. It's a busy time in the kitchens, sir. But please stay! Nibbs always has time for a friend!"

Nibbs ran off and got Steven a kitchen stool and a plate of cookies. Steven smiled. Sugar cookies with buttercream frosting. These were some of his favorites. He took one and offered one to Nibbs, who protested, but took one in the end.

"Thanks, Nibbs. This really means a lot."

"They is just cookies, Master Steven."

"I mean, thanks for being my friend, and taking time out of your work to just sit and share cookies with me. I've had a long few weeks."

"Nibbs understands, sir. It's been a long year for Nibbs' family as well, sir."

"Oh right, how is your family doing?"

"Quite well now, sir. Tibbs is feeling well, and is starting to learn the rules of the kitchens, sir. He may be a fine cook one day, sir."

Steven smiled. "Is he keeping up with his art too?"

"He is indeed." Nibbs sighed. "Although, drawing is no profession for a house elf, sir."

"Well, even if it's just a hobby, he should keep working on it. He's really good at it."

"Master Steven is most kind." Nibbs wiped up some crumbs and threw them away. "But how is Master Steven feeling? Is he ready to go home?"

Steven nodded. "He is. But he's worried about coming back. There's someone who… we used to be friends, but now… I'm just scared of him is all. I wish I didn't have to see him all the time. It makes me feel sad when I see him. And if I come back to Hogwarts next year, I'll remember again and feel sad again. I just… I don't know what to do."

Nibbs nodded slowly. "That is very sad. But… does Master Steven have things that make him happy here?"

"Well… Yes, of course. I have Sylvia, and so many other friends that I've made, and all of you!" Steven gestured around the kitchen.

"Master Steven is too kind!" Nibbs blushed. "But if those people make Master Steven happy, does that not make the sadness go away?"

"Sometimes… Sometimes I feel guilty about it all anyway. I feel like it's my fault we aren't friends anymore."

"And sometimes Nibbs feels bad that he can't help Tibbs do more than cook. But that doesn't mean that both Nibbs and Tibbs won't have a good life. Perhaps we must take the bad feelings with the good ones."

Steven nodded and smiled. "I didn't know I'd get such good advice coming to get a snack."

Nibbs beamed. "Nibbs does his best. But he does hope Master Steven stays at Hogwarts. Nibbs would miss him."

"I would miss you too. I will stay. It will be hard, but I think I can do it."

Steven thanked all the house elves again for the snacks, and even with the end of year feast bustle, Steven managed to hug many of them goodbye for the summer. After about fifteen minutes of goodbyes and thank yous, he made his way up to the Great Hall for the feast.

Sylvia was waiting for him at the Hufflepuff table when he arrived. Many more of his friends were already in the hall as well, and came up to hug him or waved at him as he passed.

"Somebody's popular." Sylvia grinned as Steven sat down next to her.

"It's because just the end of the year." Steven said shyly.

"No, I think it's because you have lots of friends." Sylvia laughed. "And you were worried that you wouldn't have cool friends because you were in Hufflepuff."

Steven smiled. "There actually are really cool people in every house. I think I was just told wrong at the beginning of the year."

"Well, you know that Slytherins can be pretty stuck up." Sylvia smiled sarcastically.

"Every house is kind of proud of themselves, I think. It's not just Slytherins."

"Thanks for bursting my bubble." Sylvia elbowed Steven in the ribs. "In all seriousness though, I think it's really cool how just having you at Hogwarts has made a lot of the different houses come together. I mean, things weren't like this before. Everyone kind of kept to themselves, really. But since you're friends with so many different people, it feels like everyone is just more friendly, no matter what house they're in."

Steven blushed. "That's super sweet, Sylvia. I don't think I did that though… Everyone was pretty awesome before I got here. I was just… nice to people."

Steven looked up just as Casey walked by with Walberga. Casey waved when he saw Steven, even though Walberga looked like she had just licked a lemon. Steven waved back, and they headed over to the Hufflepuff table.

"Hey Steven! Excited to go home for the summer?" Casey grinned. Walberga glared sourly at Steven. Steven just smiled at them both.

"Yes and no. I'll miss my friends here. But it will be good to see my family."

"I feel ya. Black and I are planning on meeting up a few times during the summer, just for fun. My parents haven't really met a lot of my friends from school, so it will be really cool to introduce people to them."

Casey was bouncing with excitement, but Walberga was looking a little nervous. Steven hadn't really seen her since their last encounter in the Great Hall, and he didn't want to trouble the waters. But he did want to help her feel more comfortable.

"That sounds like fun! What are your plans with your family, Walberga?"

Walberga shrugged, and muttered something under her breath to Casey. He whispered something back to her, and she relaxed a little.

"My family doesn't do much, but it will be… interesting… to meet Casey's family."

Steven raised his eyebrows. He hadn't really expected such a civil reply.

"That's great! I bet you guys will have a great time."

"We will." Casey smiled. "We'll see ya later, Steven!"

He waved at Steven as they left, and Walberga even nodded goodbye.

"This is exactly what I mean." Sylvia gestured at Casey and Walberga. "A miracle of friendship! I didn't even know they were together."

Steven shushed her. "They're trying not to let anyone know. But yeah, they are actually pretty adorable together." He smiled.

"I mean, it makes sense that they don't want to broadcast it. Her family is pretty strict about the pureblood thing."

"Right…" Steven hadn't thought of that.

"Hey, maybe we should hang out during the summer! I would love to meet your sisters."

"Yeah, that would be fun! I'll send you an owl and let you know when would be good. If I can find a wizard post office, anyway."

Sylvia laughed. "I'll do some research and find a Muggle post office. That might be a little easier. Then, when I come visit, we can explore and see what we can find around your town wizard-wise. There's probably tons of magic near where you live, you just didn't notice it before."

Steven smiled, and the end of year speeches from the teachers began. Even with everything that had happened this year, things would be okay. He had his friends, he had his family, and he had more adventures to look forward to in the future. Steven was happy.

THE END


End file.
